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BX  7236  .T981C 
»Tyler,  Edward  R.  1800-1848. 
The  congregational  catechism 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2009  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Tlieological  Seminary  Library 


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THE 


CONGREGATIONAL  CATECHISM, 


CONTAINING 


A   GENERAL    SURVEY 


ORGANIZATION,    G  O  V  E  R  N  IVl  E  N  T, 


DISCIPLINE  OF  CHRISTIAN  CHURCHES. 

J5j    C4naT^    r\^  Cl^fl^r. 


NEW    HAVEN: 

PUBLISHED  BY  A.  IF.  MALTBV 

1844. 


Entered, 

According  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1843,  by 

A,  H.  MALTBY, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Connecticut. 


Printed  by 

HITCHCOCK  AND  STAFFORD, 

New  Haven,  Conn. 


CONTENTS. 


Preface,  .         .  ....  5 

Chap.         I.  General  Principles  of  Church  Polity,         7 
Chap.        II.  Constitution  of  the  Primitive  churches,  17 
Chap.      III.  Officers  of  the  Primitive  churches,  33 

Chap.       IV.  Changes  in  the  Organization  and  Gov- 
ernment of  the  churches  after  the 
ApostoUc  Age,  .         .         .  51 

Chap.         V.  Constitution    of  the   Congregational 

churches,          ....  79 

Chap.        VI.  Congregationalism  preferable  to  every 

other  ecclesiastical  system,         .         93 
Chap.     VII.  Constitution  of  the  Protestant  Episco- 
pal church,         ....       107 

Chap.   VIII.  Constitution  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal church,         ....       125 

Chap.       IX.    Constitution    of  the    Presbyterian 

church.         .        .        •        •  133 


PREFACE. 


The  Congregational  Catechism  exhibits  in  a  con- 
densed form  the  Constitution  of  the  first  Cliristian 
Churches  ;  the  principal  modifications  of  ecclesiastical 
government  in  succeeding  ages  ;  the  Constitution  of  the 
Congregational  churches  and  its  superiority  to  other  ec- 
clesiastical systems ;  together  with  an  outline  of  the 
general  frame  and  regulations  of  the  other  principal 
forms  of  church  order  and  government.  The  most  im- 
portant principle  advanced  in  the  work,  is,  that  the  di- 
vine Head  of  the  church  estabhshed  no  complete  sys- 
tem of  order  and  rule  according  to  which  His  church 
must  be  organized  and  governed,  to  the  exclusion  of 
every  other ;  but  yet  that  the  Congregational  system 
corresponds  most  closely  with  the  primitive  plan,  and 
answers  best  the  eqds  of  confederation   in  Christian 

churches. 

1* 


6  PREFACE. 

The  work  is  designed  for  the  use  of  ministers  of  the 
Gospel,  theological  students,  and  intelligent  readers  gen- 
erally ;  and  it  is  hoped  it  may  prove  to  be  a  convenient 
Text-book  for  the  instruction  of  classes  by  pastors  and 
teachers :  £md  be  received  with  favor  wherever  the  re- 
ligious institutions  of  the  pdgi-im  fathers  of  New  Eng- 
land are  held  in  esteem. 

In  prosecuting  his  task,  the  author  has  been  assisted 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Murdock,  of  New  Haven,  to  whom  he 
is  indebted  for  those  parts,  especially,  which  relate  to  the 
Jevinsh  Synagogue,  and  the  constitution  of  the  church 
in  the  ages  immediately  succeeding  the  Apostles.  He 
has  also  to  acknowledge  his  indebtedness  to  the  Dissen- 
ter's Catechism,  a  work  in  use  among  the  Enghsh  In- 
dependents, for  aid  in  preparing  the  chapter  on  the  Pro- 
testant Episcopal  church. 

EDWARD  R.  TYLER. 
New  Haven,  Dec.  12,  1843. 


THE 

CONGREGATIONAL  CATECHISM. 


CHAPTER   I. 

GENERAL  PRINCIPLES  OF  CHURCH   POLITY. 

Question  1.  What  is  meant  by  Ecclesias- 
tical Polity  ? 

Answer.  The  principles  and  rules  by  which 
churches  are  regulated  and  governed. 

Q.  2.  What  is  a  church  ? 

A.  A  company  of  professed  believers  in 
Christ,  associated  together  for  the  public  wor- 
ship of  God,  for  the  observance  of  Christian 
ordinances,  and  for  mutual  aid  and  encourage- 
ment in  all  Christian  duties. 

Q.  3.  Whence  must  be  derived  all  imperative 
rules  for  the  regulation  and  government  of 
churches  ? 

A.  From   the  sacred  Scriptures.     It  is  ad- 


8  GENERAL  PRINCIPLES  OF 

mitted  by  all  Protestants  that  the  Bible  is  the 
only  rule  of  faith  and  practice. 

Q.  4.  Do  the  Scriptures  prescribe  any  com- 
plete system  of  church  polity,  obligatory  upon 
Christians  in  all  ages  and  countries  ? 

A.  They  do  not.     They  merely  inculcate 
certain  general  principles,  and  enjoin  certain 
ordinances,  which  all  Christians  should  observe. 
Q.  5.  What  are  some  of  these  general  prin- 
ciples ? 

A.  That  all  Christians  are  brethren  in  Christ, 
on  a  footing  of  perfect  equality  in  the  church, 
and  should  be  actuated  by  the  purest  love  and 
the  most  fraternal  feelings.  Matt,  xxiii.  8-12. 
Mark  x.  41-45.  John  xiii.  34,  35.  John  xv. 
12.  Rom.  xii.  3-10,  16.  James  iii.  1.  1  Pet. 
i.  22,  and  iii.  8,  9.  That  the  ends  of  their 
confederation  in  churches  should  be  their  mu- 
tual edification  and  advancement  in  holiness, 
and  the  diffusion  of  religious  knowledge  and 
piety  around  them.  Matt.  v.  13-16.  1  Cor. 
viii.  9-13.  Eph.  iv.  11-16.  1  Tim.  iii.  15. 
James  v.  16-20.  And  that  all  their  proceedings 
should  harmonize  with  the  spirit  of  their  reli- 
gion, "  all  things  be  done  decently  and  in  or- 
der," and  for  the  furtherance  of  the  ends  of 
their  confederation.     1  Cor.  xiii.  33,  40. 


CHURCH  POLITY.  9 

Q.  6.  What  do  you  ini'er  from  the  omission 
of  the  Apostles  to  record  a  system  of  express 
rules  of  church  order,  and  exact  descriptions 
of  their  own  ecclesiastical  usages  ? 

A.  That  such  points  as  are  omitted  in  the 
inspired  record,  are  not  to  be  held  essential  to 
the  right  organization  and  ordering  of  a  church; 
and  that  they  are  designedly  left  open  for  con- 
sideration and  determination  by  human  dis- 
cretion in  each  age  and  country.  See  Whateley's 
Kingdom  of  Christ,  Essay  II,  Sections  12 
and  16. 

Q.  7.  What  authority  has  the  mere  example 
or  practice  of  the  Apostolic  age  in  respect  to 
the  organization  and  government  of  churches  \ 

A.  It  has  not  the  authority  of  a  law,  obliga- 
tory upon  all  succeeding  ages  ;  but  it  is  an 
exemplification  of  Apostolic  wisdom  and  pru- 
dence, in  adopting  suitable  rules  and  regula- 
tions for  the  infant  churches,  in  that  age  and 
state  of  the  world. 

Q.  8.  What  belongs  to  a  church,  from  the 
essential  nature  of  a  community  ? 

A.  It  belongs  to  the  very  essence  of  a  com- 
munity that  it  should  have,  first,  officers  of 
some  kind  ;  secondly,  rules  enforced  by  pen- 
alties ;  and,  thirdly,  a  power  of  receiving  and 


10  GENERAL  PRINCIPLES  OF 

excluding  members.  See  Whateley's  Kingdom 
of  Christ,  Essay  II,  Section  2. 

Q.  9.  What  is  manifestly  excluded  from  a 
chm-ch,  by  the  nature  of  Christianity,  though 
not,  perhaps,  by  express  precept  ? 

A.  1,  The  very  nature  of  Christianity,  as  it 
aims  to  found  a  spiritual  and  not  a  temporal 
kingdom,  excludes  all  temporal  sanctions,  and 
admits  only  those  that  are  spiritual,  for  the 
support  and  enforcement  of  ecclesiastical  laws. 

A.  2.  As  the  Christian  religion  recognizes 
only  one  sacrifice  for  sin,  that  made  by  Jesus 
Christ  upon  the  cross,  it  forever  excludes  from 
the  Christian  church,  all  real  sacrifices,  all 
real  altars,  and  a  literal  priesthood. 

A.  3.  As  Christianity  is  altogether  a  spiritual 
religion,  announcing  the  coming  of  the  prom- 
ised Messiah,  and  offering  grace  and  salvation 
to  all  who  repent  of  their  sins  and  believe  and 
obey  his  Gospel,  it  of  course  annuls  all  the 
types  and  shadows  of  the  Old  Testament  dis- 
pensation, dispels  all  mysterious  rites,  which 
shroud  the  way  of  salvation  in  obscurity,  and 
requires  a  simple,  direct  worship,  with  as  few 
ceremonies  as  will  comport  with  decency  and 
the  efficacy  of  religious  ordinances.  John  iv. 
21-24.     iJohnii.  8. 


CHURCH  POLITY.  11 

A.  4.  As  it  places  all  Christians,  as  such, 
on  a  footing  of  perfect  equality  with  each 
other,  it  necessarily  prohibits  all  dominion  and 
lordship  in  the  church,  all  subjection  or  subor- 
dination of  one  portion  of  the  household  of 
faith  to  the  control  of  another,  and  all  distinc- 
tions between  clergymen  and  laymen,  which 
would  be  incompatible  with  the  most  fraternal 
and  affectionate  feelings  and  intercourse. — 
Matt.  XX.  27.     Whateley,  Essay  II,  Sec.  16. 

Q.  10.  What  system  of  ecclesiastical  polity 
and  church-order  may  be  considered  as  the 
most  perfect  ? 

A.  That  which  is  most  in  harmony  with 
all  the  principles  and  precepts  of  Christianity, 
best  secures  the  regular  and  profitable  observ- 
ance of  Christian  ordinances,  and  most  effectu- 
ally attains  all  the  ends  of  Christian  confedera- 
tion. 

Q.  11.  What  are  the  consequences  of  an 
error  of  judgment  in  regulating  a  church  1 

A.  The  error  is  not  fatal  to  the  being  of  a 
church,  the  members  of  which  are  united  to- 
gether in  a  Christian  spirit,  agreeably,  as  they 
suppose,  to  the  rules  of  the  Gospel.  But  the 
error  will  be  apt,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  to 
mar  their  piety  and  impair  their  usefulness. 


12  GENERAL  PRINCIPLES 

Whoever  insists  that  an  association  of  Chris- 
tians cannot  be  a  church,  unless  they  are  or- 
ganized and  governed  in  strict  accordance  with 
a  fixed  and  perfect  model,  must  account  for 
the  omission  of  such  a  platform  of  government 
in  the  New  Testament,  and  for  the  smiles  of 
divine  providence  on  all  Christian  sects  who 
agree  in  holding  the  Head,  however  they  may 
differ  in  forms  and  ceremonies. 

Q.  12.  Are  the  members  of  a  local  church 
bound  to  regard  its  by-laws  and  other  regula- 
tions, which  are  not  contrary  to  the  Scriptures, 
but  on  the  other  hand,  are  not  expressly  en- 
joined in  them  1 

A.  Certainly.  Every  church  must  have 
some  rules  for  conducting  its  business  ;  and 
the  determination  of  these  rules  must  be  left 
to  the  good  sense  and  judgment  of  the  mem- 
bers, so  far  as  the  sacred  writers  have  not  par- 
ticularly mentioned  and  prescribed  them.  The 
by-laws  of  the  church,  therefore,  being  made 
in  conformity  with  the  divine  plan,  have  the 
same  power  to  bind  the  conscience  as  the 
enactments  of  civil  government. 

Q.  13.  Where  does  all  ecclesiastical  power 
and  authority  reside  ? 

A.  Primarily,  in  the  individual  communities 


OF  CHURCH   POLITY.  13 

or  local  churches  ;  and  then  in  the  officers  of 
their  appointment,  and  in  the  conventions  and 
representative  bodies,  to  which  the  churches 
give  their  sanction. 

Q.  14.  Whence  does  a  local  church  derive 
all  its  power  ? 

A.  From  the  good  pleasure  of  God,  author- 
izing and  requiring  Christians  to  form  them- 
selves into  churches,  and  to  regulate  all  their 
proceedings  according  to  their  discretion,  in 
conformity  with  the  laws  of  God. 

Q.  15.  Are  officers  an  essential  part  of  a 
church  ? 

A.  A  church  may  exist  without  officers,  like 
any  other  corporation  or  society,  but  it  is  not 
prepared  to  act  efficiently  and  in  a  regular 
manner,  until  it  becomes  an  organized  body,  or 
has  officers  to  preside  over  its  movements  and 
to  execute  its  will. 

Q.  16.  What  is  it  that  imparts  official  power 
to  the  officers  of  a  church  ? 

A.  Their  election  or  appointment  by  the 
church  according  to  its  by-laws,  and  their  for- 
mal induction  into  office  agreeably  to  the  same 
laws. 

Q.  17.  What  are  the  limits  and  boundaries 
of  official  power  in  the  officers  of  a  church  ? 
2 


14  GENERAL  PRINCIPLES 

A.  Each  officer  possesses  precisely  those 
powers,  and  those  only,  which  the  church 
gave  to  him,  when  it  appointed  him  to  be  a 
church  officer. 

Q.  18.  Do  the  Scriptures  prescribe  the 
number,  the  grades,  and  the  powers  of  church 
officers  ? 

A.  They  do  not.  They  leave  each  church 
at  liberty  to  follow  its  own  discretion  in  this 
matter,  and  only  admonish  them  to  keep  in 
sight  the  great  principles  of  their  religion,  and 
to  preserve  themselves  a  holy,  spiritual  body. 

Q.  19.  What  obedience  is  due  to  church 
officers  ? 

A.  Such  as  is  due  from  the  citizens  of  a 
free  State,  or  the  members  of  any  voluntary 
association,  to  those  whom  they  have  invested 
with  official  power. 

Q.  20.  Are  the  churches  under  obligation 
to  provide  for  the  temporal  support  of  their  re- 
ligious teachers  ? 

A.  Yes.  Consult  1  Cor.  ix.  14.  2  Cor.  xi. 
7-9,  and  12,  13.  Yet  we  have  no  evidence 
that  in  the  primitive  church  any  except  the 
traveling  preachers,  Apostles,  and  Evangel- 
ists, derived  their  support  from  the  people. 
The  elders  and  teachers  of  the  local  churches 


OF  CHURCH  POLITY.  15 

probably  supported  themselves  by  their  own 
industry,  not  being  wholly  occupied  in  the 
service  of  the  church. 

Q.  21.  In  what  relation  do  local  churches 
stand  to  each  other  ? 

A.  As  churches,  they  are  entirely  distinct 
and  independent  bodies,  with  no  jurisdiction  or 
control  over  each  other.  But  as  they  are  asso- 
ciations of  the  same  class  of  people,  for  the 
very  same  purposes,  and  under  the  same  Christ- 
ian principles,  the  most  perfect  cordiality,  and 
the  mutual  interchange  of  kind  offices,  should 
exist  among  them.  And  they  may  and  should 
form  confederacies  for  their  common  benefit, 
so  far  as  circumstances  will  permit  ;  and  they 
not  only  may  establish  rules  for  friendly  inter- 
course and  correspondence,  but  they  may  or- 
ganize synods,  or  conventions  of  delegates,  to 
superintend  their  common  interests,  and  clothe 
them  with  such  powers  as  are  compatible  with 
the  principles  of  Christianity  and  the  best 
interests  of  the  churches. 

Q.  22.  In  what  relation  do  the  churches  in 
any  country  stand  to  the  State  or  civil  power  ? 

A.  In  that  of  voluntary  associations,  which 
owe  obedience  and  respect  to  the  laws,  and 


16  GENERAL  PRINCIPLES,   &C. 

are  entitled  to  protection,  and  to  entire  freedom 
in  the  management  of  their  own  affairs  in  their 
own  way,  provided  they  do  not  violate  the 
riffhts  of  other  citizens. 


CHAPTER  II. 

CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHRISTIAN 
CHURCHES,  OR  OF  THOSE  WHICH  WERE 
GATHERED  AND  ORGANIZED  IN  THE  APOS- 
TOLIC AGE. 

Q.  23.  In  what  acceptations  or  senses  is 
the  word  Church  used  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment? 

A.  Sometimes  it  denotes  the  aggregate  or 
whole  number  of  professed  believers  of  the 
gospel,  or  what  is  called  the  Universal  Visible 
Church:  see  Philip,  iii.  6.  1  Cor.  xii.  28. 
Eph.  iii.  21.  At  other  times  it  denotes  all 
the  redeemed  and  sanctified,  or  the  Universal 
Invisible  Church  :  see  Matt.  xvi.  1 8.  Eph.  i. 
22,  and  iii.  10,  and  v.  24,  25,  &c.  But  most 
commonly  it  denotes  the  organized  body  of 
Christians  assembling  regularly  for  worship  in 
a  particular  place,  town  or  city,  or  what  may 
2* 


18  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE 

be  called  a  Local  Church  :  Acts  ii.  47.  1  Cor. 
xiv.  23.     Acts  ix.  31,  and  xv.  41,  &c. 

Q.  24.  When  a  Jew  or  Pagan  was  convert- 
ed to  Christianity,  what  religious  rites  did  he 
pass  under  ? 

A.  He  was  baptized  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  :  Matt, 
xxviii.  19. 

This  baptism  was  ordinarily  administered  by  the  teach- 
er that  converted  him,  or  by  an  attendant  of  the  teacher, 
and  as  soon  as  the  genuineness  of  his  conversion  was 
manifested.  Acts  ii.  38,  41,  and  viii.  12, 13,  36-38,  and 
ix.  18,  and  x.  47,  48,  and  xvi.  33,  and  xviii.  8,  John  iv. 
2,  1  Cor.  i.  14.  After  such  baptism,  it  was  not  un- 
common for  an  apostle  to  lay  his  hand  upon  the  convert 
and  pray  that  he  might  receive  the  Holy  Spirit.  Acts  viii. 
15,  17,  19,  and  xix.  6. 

Q.  25.  Did  a  person  by  passing  under  these 
rites  become  a  member  of  any  local  church? 

A.  No.  He  thereby  became  no  more  than 
a  visible  Christian,  or  a  member  of  the  univer- 
sal visible  church.  Such  must  have  been  the 
case  with  the  Eunuch,  whom  Philip  baptized, 
Acts  viii.  36,  and  with  all  the  first  converts  in 
any  place  to  which  the  gospel  was  carried, 
until  a  church  could  be  there  established. 


PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.  19 

Q.  26.  What  proof  is  there  that  in  the  apos- 
tolic age,  there  were  no  diocesan  or  provincial 
or  national  churches  embracing  many  congre- 
gations ? 

A.  No  such  ecclesiastical  body  is  men- 
tioned or  alluded  to,  throughout  the  New  Tes- 
tament ;  the  word  church  is  never  so  used  in 
reference  to  Christians  ;  no  epistle  is  addressed 
to  such  an  ecclesiastical  body  ;  and  no  action 
of  any  such  body,  or  of  its  officers,  is  recorded 
in  the  New  Testament.  On  the  contrary,  we 
find  that  the  seven  churches  in  the  province  of 
Proconsular  Asia,  are  called  "  the  seven 
churches  of  Asia,"  Rev.  i.  4,  11,  20  ;  each  of 
them  is  designated  by  the  city  where  it  was 
located  ;  and  each  is  addressed  as  a  distinct 
and  a  whole  church  :  Rev.  ii.  and  iii.  And 
whenever  churches  of  any  province  or  country 
are  spoken  of,  they  are  uniformly  designated 
as  the  churches  of  that  province  :  for  example, 
"  the  churches  of  Galatia"  and  ''  the  churches 
of  Asia,"  1  Cor.  xvi.  1,  19  ;  "the  churches  of 
Macedonia,"  2  Cor.  viii.  1  ;  "  the  churches  of 
Judea,"  Gal.  i.  22  ;  Paul  went  through  Sy- 
ria confirming  the  churches.  Acts  xv.  41. 
The  general  epistles  of  the  apostles,  Peter, 
James,  and  John,  are  not  addressed  to  churches, 


20  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE 

but  to  Christians  generally,  or  to  the  individu- 
al converts  in  certain  countries  or  provinces, 
just  as  if  there  vrere  no  ecclesiastical  ties  or 
combinations  uniting  them  in  larger  masses  or 
in  well  known  provincial  and  national  bodies. 

Q.  27.  What  evidence  have  we  that  the 
early  Christians  were  combined  together  in 
regular  organized  bodies,  or  that  their  local 
churches  were  not  merely  fortuitous  meetings 
of  such  Christians  as  happened  to  get  to- 
gether ? 

A.  1.  The  brethren  in  each  particular  city 
or  town  had  regular  and  permanent  officers  or- 
dained over  them,  who  were  charged  with  the 
performance  of  appropriate  functions  in  their 
respective  churches  :  Acts  xiv.  23,  and  xv.  4,  6, 
23,  and  xx.  17.  Titus  i.  5.  1  Tim.  v.  1,  17, 
19,  and  iii.  3-8,  &c.  James  v.  14.  1  Peter 
v.  1-5. 

A.  2.  Letters  were  addressed  to  the  breth- 
ren, through  their  officers  ;  and  their  past  his- 
tory and  conduct  as  permanent  bodies  were 
scanned,  and  warnings  and  exhortations  in  re- 
gard to  their  future  conduct  addressed  to  them  : 
see  the  epistles  to  the  seven  churches  of  Asia, 
Rev.  chap.  i.  and  ii.  Philip,  i.  1,  and  ii.  19, 
25,  &c.     Col.  i.  1-11,21-23. 


PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.  21 

A.  3.  The  brethren  were  charged  with  the 
maintenance  of  watchfulness  over  each  other, 
with  caution  whom  they  admitted  to  fellow- 
ship, and  with  the  discipline  and  excommuni- 
cation of  incorrigible  offenders  against  the 
laws  of  Christianity  :  Matt,  xviii.  15-18.  Heb. 
X.  25.  IThess.  V.  14.  1  Cor.  v.  1-13.  2 
Thess.  iii.  14,  15. 

Q.  28.  How  were  the  early  Christians  dis- 
tributed and  aggregated  into  these  organized 
bodies,  called  churches  ? 

A.  Not  by  the  decrees  or  commands  of  any 
Qcclesia^ical  authorities,  (as  enlisted  soldiers 
are  distributed  into  companies  and  regiments 
by  their  commanding  officers,)  but  by  a  volun- 
tary union  among  themselves,  with  the  appro- 
bation and  advice  of  those  who  were  instrumen- 
tal in  their  conversion. 

For,  in  the  absence  of  the  compulsory  power  of  either 
civil  or  ecclesiastical  courts,  the  only  possible  way  of  form- 
ing churches,  is  by  the  voluntary  confederation  of  indi- 
viduals. The  primitive  Christians,  doubtless,  followed 
the  instructions  and  ad\Tice  of  the  apostles  and  evangelists, 
but  they  followed  as  freemen.  They  were  drawn  togeth- 
er by  their  common  views,  common  hopes,  and  common 
desire  to  enjoy  Christian  fellowsliip  and  ordinances,  and 
to  conform  their  conduct  to  the  will  of  Christ,  and  com- 
bine their  strength  in  extending  the  blessings  of  his  king- 


22  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE 

dom.    2  Cor.  viii.  8.    Acts  ii.  41-47,  and  v.  12-14,  and 
xiv.  22,  23. 

Q.  29.  What  limits  had  the  primitive 
churches,  both  as  to  the  nmnber  of  members, 
and  the  extent  of  territory  allotted  to  each  ? 

A.  No  precise  limits,  probably,  were  estab- 
lished ;  though  all  the  Christians  in  a  city  or 
town,  seem  to  have  constituted  but  one  church, 
for  we  never  read  of  two  churches  in  the  same 
place. 

Yet  Cenchrea,  one  of  the  ports  of  Corinth,  a  few  miles 
from  it,  had  a  separate  church :  Rom.  xvi.  1.  ^The  Greek 
word,  translated  "church,"  properly  denotes  an  assembly 
or  congregation  of  people  called  together ;  and  Paul,  1 
Cor.  xiv.  2.3,  speaks  of  "  the  whole  church  at  Corinth, 
being  come  together  into  one  place,  and  all  speaking 
with  tongues,"  as  producing  confusion  ;  and  he  directs 
the  Corinthians  to  regulate  their  meetings,  so  that  "  all 
things  be  done  decently  and  in  order."  The  primitive 
churches  seem  always  to  have  been  named  either  from 
the  city  or  village  where  the  members  resided,  or  from 
the  building  in  which  the  church  held  its  meetings. 
Rom.  xvi.  5.     1  Cor.  xvi.  19.     Col.  iv.  15.     Philem.  2. 

Q.  30.  Had  these  local  churches  any  formal 
Articles  of  confederation  or  written  Church- 
Covenants  1 

A.  The  new  Testament  does  not  inform  us  : 


PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.  23 

but  it  is  most  probable  they  had  neither  writ- 
ten covenants,  nor  written  creeds.  Yet  we 
cannot  suppose  them  ignorant  of  the  ends  and 
objects  of  their  union  in  churches,  and  of  their 
duties  and  obligations  as  members  of  such  fra- 
ternities. They  were  formed  into  churches 
by  the  apostles  themselves,  and  the  assistants 
of  the  apostles  ;  and  they  were  instructed  and 
counseled  from  time  to  time  by  inspired  men, 
both  orally  and  by  epistles.  That  they  had 
definite  rules  and  regulations  for  their  ecclesi- 
astical proceedings,  is  manifest.  See  Acts 
xvi.  4.  1  Cor.  vii.  17,  and  xiv.  33-37.  2  Cor. 
xi.  28.     1  Thess.  ii.  13,  14,  and  iv.  1,  2. 

Q.  31.  In  what  relation  did  these  primitive 
churches  stand  to  each  other  ? 

A.  They  were  completely  independent  bod- 
ies. That  is,  they  had  power  to  appoint  and 
to  depose  their  own  officers,  to  administer  dis- 
cipline, and  to  regulate  and  determine  all  their 
other  ecclesiastical  concerns,  subject  to  no 
court  of  appeal  or  higher  power  having  author- 
ity to  reverse  their  decisions.  They  were 
united  to  one  another  by  the  ties  of  a  common 
faith,  common  hopes,  and  common  aims  ;  but 
they  acknowledged  no  subjection  or  subordi- 
nation of  one  church  to  another ;  nor  did  they 


24  CONSTITUTIOxV  OF  THE 

in  the  Apostolic  age  enter  into  any  confedera- 
tion of  churches,  thereby  creating  a  central 
power  having  dominion  over  them  all.  See 
Murdock's  Mosheim,  Cent.  I,  P.  II,  Ch.  II, 
^  14,  and  Cent.  II,  P.  II,  Ch.  II,  ^  1,  2. 

Q.  32.  What  is  the  evidence  of  this  inde- 
pendency of  the  primitive  churches  ? 

A.  1.  There  is  no  account  in  the  Scriptures 
of  the  appointment,  or  notice  of  the  existence 
of  any  prelate,  presbytery,  or  consociation  of 
churches,  having  power  to  review  and  reverse 
the  decisions  of  particular  churches,  or  to  over- 
rule their  doings  :  nor  is  there  any  instance  in 
which  their  acts  were  reviewed  and  set  aside 
by  any  such  authority.  This  omission  to  men- 
tion such  a  tribunal  can  be  accounted  for  only 
on  the  supposition,  that  no  tribunal  of  the  kind 
existed. 

A.  2.  The  Apostles  themselves  referred  to 
the  brotherhood  every  question,  not  determined 
by  revelation,  respecting  the  order  and  govern- 
ment of  the  churches.  The  question  about 
circumcision.  Acts  xv.  22-32,  was  decided  by 
the  joint  action  of  the  Apostles,  Elders,  and 
"  whole  church."  The  appointment  of  El- 
ders was  made  by  a  vote  of  the  brethren.  Com- 
pare Acts  xiv.  23,  with  2  Cor.  viii.  19.     The 


PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.  25 

word  rendered  "  ordained"  in  the  former  pas- 
sage, is  rendered  in  the  other,  "  chosen"  of  the 
churches.  The  sense  in  Acts  xiv.  23,  is, 
"  when  they  had  by  election  or  vote  of  the 
brethren  provided  them  with  Elders  in  every 
church." 

A.  3.  The  rejection,  deposition,  or  exclu- 
sion from  the  church,  of  unworthy  teachers, 
belonged  to  each  particular  church.  One  of 
the  seven  churches  of  Asia  is  commended  for 
trying  false  teachers,  Rev.  ii.  2  ;  and  another 
is  censured  for  tolerating  them,  Rev.  ii.  20. 
The  churches  are  also  commanded,  1  John  iv.  1, 
to  try  "  the  spirits,"  that  is,  the  teachers  of  re- 
ligion, for  the  purpose,  evidently,  of  deciding 
who  were  worthy  of  confidence,  and  of  forbid- 
ding those  to  teach  in  their  assemblies,  who 
should  be  found  unworthy. 

A.  4.  Particular  churches  are  expressly  rec- 
ognized as  independent  communities,  admit- 
ting and  excluding  persons  as  members,  Rom. 
xiv.  1,  1  Cor.  V.  1-7,  without  appeal  from 
their  decisions,  which  manifestly  includes  all 
the  powers  of  self-government. 

Q.  33.  After  what  general  pattern  were  the 
first  Christian  churches  modeled  and  regula- 
ted? 

3 


26  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE 

A.  In  a  great  measure  after  the  pattern  of 
the  Jewish  synagogues  ;  and  not,  as  some  have 
supposed,  after  the  pattern  of  the  Mosaic  in- 
stitutions for  the  national  worship  in  the  Tab- 
ernacle and  Temple,  in  which  there  were 
three  orders  of  proper  clergymen,  the  High- 
priest,  the  Priests,  and  the  Levites.  See  this 
subject  ably  and  fully  discussed  in  Camp. 
Vitringa  de  Synagoga  Vetere  Libri  Tres. 
Franeker.  1696,  pp.  1138,  4to.  See  also 
Lightfoot,  Horae  Hebr,  et  Talmud,  in  Matt, 
iv.  23.  Whateley's  Kingdom  of  Christ,  Es- 
say II,  sec.  9. 

It  was  perfectly  natural  for  the  first  Christians,  who 
being  native  Jews  were  accustomed  all  their  hves  to  at- 
tend on  the  synagogues,  to  form  and  organize  their  re- 
ligious fraternities,  and  to  regulate  their  public  worship, 
after  the  model  of  the  synagogue.  They  could  have  sim- 
ilar officers,  manage  their  ecclesiastical  affairs  in  much 
the  same  way,  and  adopt  the  very  same  modes  of  wor- 
ship, by  merely  substituting  Clu'istian  principles  and 
Christian  doctrines  for  those  of  the  Rabbis.  Such 
churches,  Uke  synagogues,  could  be  erected  with  no  diffi- 
cult}', in  any  place  or  country,  wherever  a  sufficient 
number  of  members  could  be  found ;  and  the  ordhiary 
worship  was  to  be  substantially  the  same  in  both, 
namely,  the  reading  and  expounding  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  accompanied  with  religious  exhortations,  and 
with  pubUc  prayer  and  praise.     On  the   contrary,  the 


PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.  27 

Christian  dispensation  did  not  rcquiie,  nor  would  it  ad- 
mit of  the  offices  of  a  Highpriest,  and  common  priests, 
with  attending  Levites;  nor  were  the  ceremonies  and 
the  higlily  typical  worship  of  the  temple,  which  were  de- 
signed to  foreshadow  the  coming  Messiah  and  the  way 
of  salvation  by  Him,  at  all  suited  to  the  noonday  light  of 
gospel  times,  and  to  the  more  direct  and  spiritual  wor- 
ship which  God  now  requires. 

Q.  34.  Will  you  state  the  origin,  the  objects, 
and  the  constitution  of  the  ancient  Jewish  syn- 
agogues ? 

A.  Synagogues  appear  to  have  formed  no 
part  of  the  original  Mosaic  establishment,  but 
to  have  been  a  device  of  Ezra  and  the  devout 
men  of  his  times,  for  diffusing  religious 
knowledge  and  piety  among  the  people.  They 
were  popular  assemblies,  in  which  all  classes 
of  people  met  together  fraternally,  on  the  Sab- 
bath and  on  festival  days,  to  hear  the  Scrip- 
tures read  and  explained,  to  offer  prayer  and 
praise  to  God,  and  to  receive  religious  instruc- 
tion from  any  persons  competent  and  willing  to 
give  it.  See  Prideaux's  Connections,  Part  I, 
B.  VI.  Anno  434,  and  Vitringa  de  Synagoga 
Vetere. 

As  civil  and  sacred  things  in  the  Jewish  Theocracy 
were  completely  blended  together,  all  the  public  institu- 


28  CONSTITUTION  OF   THE 

tions  of  any  Jewish  city,  as  well  the  rehgious  and  litera- 
ry as  the  civil,  were  under  the  official  direction  and  con- 
trol of  one  single  board  of  rulers,  called  The  Elders  of 
the  city.  According  to  the  Talmudic  writers,  this 
board  consisted  of  three  men,  weU  read  in  the  Jewish 
law,  chosen  annually  and  constituting  a  local  Sanhedrim 
under  the  great  national  Sanhedrim  at  Jerusalem.  They 
decided  whether  a  synagogue  should  be  builded,  where  it 
should  be  located,  on  what  occasions  it  should  be  opened 
for  pubUc  worship,  what  rehgious  exercises  should  be 
held,  who  might  be  admitted  to  fellowship  in  that  wor- 
sliip,  and  who  be  excluded  from  it,  or  be  "  put  out  of  the 
synagogue."  They  also  attended  and  presided  in  the 
principal  synagogue  of  their  local  jurisdiction,  and  were 
the  only  persons  having  authoritative  control  over  the 
proceedings  there.  See  Vitringa,  p.  550-555.  In  conse- 
quence of  their  possessing  this  power,  they  were  called, 
dj3;^i(rvvay  wyot,  rulers  of  the  synagogue.  Mark  v.  22, 35, 
&c.    Acts  xiii.  15,  and  xviii.  8,  17.     Vitringa,  p.  610. 

But  although  the  Elders  of  each  city  had  the  entire 
control  of  all  the  synagogues  in  it,  they  were  not  offi- 
cially, or  by  virtue  of  their  relation  to  the  synagogues,  the 
persons  whose  duty  it  was  to  read  and  expound  the 
Scriptures  to  the  people,  to  recite  the  public  prayers,  and 
to  give  public  religious  instruction.  For,  in  ancient 
times,  there  were  no  officers  in  a  synagogue,  to  whom 
these  duties  appropriately  belonged,  but  all  the  male  per- 
sons present,  who  were  competent  and  of  reputable  char- 
acter, might  be  and  actually  were  called  out  successively 
to  perform  these  services,  in  accordance  with  certain 
rules  of  decorum  and  courtesy :  Vitringa,  p.  947.  And 
hence  the  whole  regular  service  of  the  synagogues  might 


PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.  29 

be,  and  often  was,  performed  without  even  the  presence 
of  an  Elder:  for  there  were  numerous  synagogues  on 
which  no  Elder  could  ordinarily  attend  ;  as  in  small 
towns  and  villages  which  had  no  Elders,  and  in  the 
large  cities  which  had  more  synagogues  than  Elders. 
Nazareth  had  probably  no  Elders,  (see  Luke  iv.  16-30,) 
and  Jerusalem  is  said  to  have  contained  several  hxmdred 
synagogues. 

The  most  indispensable  functionary  in  a  synagogue 
was  the  minister,  virriperris,  Hebr.  (jnD!D3?l  I-IH/j  or 

the  pubhc  servant  of  the  congregation,  who  had  charge  at 
all  times  of  the  house,  its  furniture,  utensils  and  books,  and 
who,  in  time  of  worship,  brought  forward  the  sacred  vol- 
ume, called  forth  the  readers,  pointed  out  to  them  the 
lessons  of  the  day  and  inspected  their  reading  ;  and  when 
the  reading  closed  he  returned  the  book  to  its  place ; 
Vitringa,  p.  890.  The  Rabbis  tell  us,  tliis  functionary 
was  not  himself  the  reader  of  the  lessons,  but  his  duty 
was  to  caU  forth  readers  at  each  pubhc  service,  seven 
persons  successively,  first  a  priest,  if  one  were  present, 
then  a  Levite,  and  then  five  laymen.  While  they  read 
he  was  to  look  over  them,  and  to  point  out  tlieir  errors 
and  mistakes  in  a  low  tone  of  voice,  so  that  they  might 
correct  themselves  on  the  spot.  He  also  called  for  a 
translator.  For  the  Scriptures  were  read  in  Hebrew, 
and  translated  into  the  vernacular  tongue  on  the  spot  by 
some  other  person  than  the  reader — the  books  of  Moses, 
verse  by  verse,  and  the  lessons  from  the  Prophets,  three 
verses  at  a  time.  'And  the  translator  must  not  read  from 
any  written  translation,  but  must  give  a  translation  of 
his  own.  He  might,  also,  paraphrase  or  explain  the  text 
3* 


30  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE 

if  he  saw  fit,  but  he  must  express  himself  modestly  and 
with  no  ostentation.  The  translating  of  the  lesson  was  a 
less  honorable  function  than  the  reading  of  it  :  Vitringa, 
pp.  979, 1018,  &c. 

The  Liturgy,  or  the  written  forms  of  prayer,  (if  such 
forms  existed  in  the  Apostolic  age,)  were  few  and  sim- 
ple, and  such  as  might  be,  and  actually  were,  read  by 
any  grave  and  competent  person  in  the  assembly,  called 
out  by  the  minister  (ITH)*  Vitringa,  p.  1093.  But  af- 
terwards the  Liturgy  was  greatly  enlarged ;  and  it  be- 
came so  comphcated  that  it  required  some  experience  to 
read  it  properly,  and  therefore  this  service  was  assigned 
to  a  particular  officer  in  each  synagogue  :  Vitringa,  p. 
1093.  The  man  who  thus  led  the  congregation  to  the 
throne  of  grace,  or  who,  in  behalf  of  the  assembly,  pre- 
sented before  God  their  united  prayers  and  praise,  was 
called  on  this  account,  the  (*|^)31  IS  n^DtS)  (ayyc^os  ttjs 
cKKWriaCai)  Angel  or  Messenger  of  the  congregation : 
Vitringa,  p.  905.     During  the  recitation  of  the  prayers, 

the  minister  ('l^H/  waved  a  handkerchief  from  time 
to  time  to  notify  the  people  when  to  give  the  responses  : 
Vitringa,  pp.  1124,  &,c. 

Besides  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  recita- 
tion of  the  prayers,  extempore  sermons  or  addresses  to 
the  people  were  made  by  one  or  more  persons,  if  any  per- 
sons competent  to  instruct  happened  to  be  present  and 
were  disposed  to  speak.  These  discQurses  were  of  two 
kinds ;  the  one  in  connection  with  the  reading  of  the 
Scripture  lessons,  and  explanatory  of  them,  the  exposi- 
tor being  any  priest,  Levite,  or  layman  learned  in  the 


PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.  31 

law,  {vofiiKdi,)  who  might  be  present,  (Vitringa,  p.  688, 
&c. :)  the  other  after  the  reading  of  the  lessons  and  the 
prayers,  being  direct  addresses  to  the  people,  based  on 
some  passage  of  Scripture,  or  without  a  text,  occasion- 
ally made  by  an  Elder,  (Vitringa,  pp.  694,  696,)  or  by 
any  grave  and  learned  man  in  the  assembly,  and  even 
by  strangers  incidentally  present:  Vitringa,  p.  704. 
Jesus  Cln-ist  and  his  Apostles  often  thus  preached  in  the 
synagogues:  Matt.  iv.  23,  and  xiii.  54.  Ltike  iv.  16. 
John  vi.  59,  and  xviii.  20.  Acts  iv.  20,  and  xiii.  5, 14- 
16,  and  xiv  1,  and  xvii.  2,  17,  and  xviii.  4,  26. 

Q.  35.  In  what  respects  were  the  order  and 
government  of  the  primitive  churches  different 
from  those  of  synagogues  ? 

A.  1.  As  Christ's  kingdom  is  not  of  this 
world,  the  officers  of  a  church  had  no  civil 
power,  and  could  inflict  no  civil  pains  or  pen- 
alties on  offenders. 

A.  2.  As  there  was  at  first  only  one  church 
in  a  city,  each  church  had  its  own  board  of  El- 
ders ;  who  of  course  were  the  proper  and  ap- 
propriate officers  of  that  church,  and  were  or- 
dinarily present  to  direct  and  to  take  an  active 
part  in  all  the  meetings  of  the  church,  whether 
for  business  or  for  worsnip. 

A.  3.  The  board  of  Elders  in  a  church 
seems  not  to  have  been  limited  to  just  three 


32  CONSTITUTION,  &C. 

members,  nor  to  have  been  annually  renewed 
by  re-election. 

A.    4.  Instead  of  one  (l^n)    Deacon,  the 

churches  seem  to  have  had  several,  and  they 
probably  performed  a  greater  variety  of  duties 
than  were  assigned  to  the  Deacons  of  syna- 
gogues. 

A.  5.  The  worship  in  the  primitive  churches, 
though  conducted  on  the  same  social  principles, 
was  probably  less  conformed  to  a  fixed  and 
established  rubric  ;  for  there  was  not  a  formal 
liturgy,  and  probably  no  stated  lessons  of 
Scripture  to  be  read. 


CHAPTER  III. 

OFFICERS  OF  THE  PRIMITIVE   CHURCH. 

Q.  36.  What  general  classification  would 
you  make  of  the  officers  in  the  primitive 
church  ?  * 

A.  They  may  be  divided  into  two  classes — 
officers  in  the  church  universal,  and  officers 
over  single  local  churches. 

Q.  37.  What  officers  in  the  primitive 
churches  were  of  the  first  class  ? 

A.  The  Apostles  and  their  coadjutors,  com- 
monly called  Evangelists. 

Q.  38.  What  was  the  Apostolic  office,  and 
how  did  it  originate  ? 

A.  The  Apostles  were  those  extraordinary 
officers  of  the  Church  Universal,  who  were 
instructed  and  commissioned  by  Christ  him- 
self, to  be  his  immediate  legates  or  ambassa- 
dors to  all  nations,  and  the  authorized  publish- 
ers and  expounders  of  the  Christian  religion, 


34  OFFICERS  OF  THE 

not  only  to  that,  but  to  all  subsequent  genera- 
tions ;  and  who  were  enabled  to  authenticate 
their  mission  by  miracles  :  Matt,  xxviii.  18-20. 
Mark  xvi.  15-20.  John  xv.  15,  16,  18-21, 26, 
27.     2  Cor.  V.  19,  20. 

Q.  39.  What  official  powers  did  the  Apos- 
tles possess  ? 

A.  They  had  power  to  give  authoritative  ex- 
positions of  the  Christian  religion,  and  to  ad- 
minister all  Christian  ordinances  everywhere. 
They  were  also  authorized  to  instruct,  exhort, 
and  admonish  men  of  all  classes,  conditions, 
and  ranks  in  the  church,  and  out  of  it ;  but 
they  had  no  power  to  command  or  to  coerce. 
Their  power  was  only  moral  or  persuasive. 

In  all  their  epistles,  they  state  authoritatively  what 
ought  to  be  done,  and  why  ;  but  they  never  say,  By  vir- 
tue of  my  Apostolic  office,  I  command  or  decree  that 
you  do  thus  and  so.  On  the  contrary,  after  an  exposition 
of  Christian  duty,  they  entreat,  exhort,  admonish,  and 
urge  by  motives  suited  to  persuade.  Thus,  1  Thess.  iv. 
10-12.  Philem.  V.  8-10.  -1  Cor.  chap.  V.  See  also  the 
latter  part  of  all  the  epistles  of  Paul.  They  contain  no 
official  decrees,  no  judicial  sentences,  but  most  elaborate 
counsels,  admonitions,  and  exhortations. 

Q.  40.  In  what  relation  did  the  Apostles 
stand  to  the  local  churches  ? 


PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.  35 

A.  In  the  relation  of  founders,  fathers, 
guides,  and  friends  ;  but  not  in  that  of  official 
rulers  and  governors.  They  neither  enacted 
by-laws  for  them,  decided  controversies  in 
them,  nor  executed  their  commands.  They 
were  to  the  local  churches  very  much  what  the 
ancient  prophets  were  to  the  Jewish  Church, 
not  their  officers,  but  the  guides  of  both  officers 
and  private  members. 

Q.  41.  Did  they  divide  the  world  into  apos- 
tolical provinces,  each  occupying  one  as  his 
exclusive  charge  or  field  of  labor  ? 

A.  No  :  they  made  no  formal  division,  but 
they  agreed  from  time  to  time  in  which  direc- 
tion to  travel,  and  among  what  classes  of  peo- 
ple each  should  especially  labor.  Thus  Paul 
was  more  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  and  Pe- 
ter the  Apostle  of  the  Circumcision  :  Gal.  ii.  7, 
8,  9.     See  also  2  Cor.  x.   13-16. 

Church  history  has  preserved  some  vague  traditions  of 
their  separating  and  going  into  different  fields  of  labor. 
Euseb.  B.  Ill,  Ch.  I.  Mosliiem's  Institutes,  Cent  I., 
P.  I,  Ch.  IV,  Sec.  1, 6.  Yet  we  repeatedly  find  two  or 
more  of  them  present  and  exercising  their  office  in  the 
same  place,  and  in  one  instance  disagreeing  and  con- 
tending: Gal.  U.  11-1.3.  Acts  xv.  6,  13,  22.  Their 
epistles  were  also  addressed,  sometimes  to  the  same  lo- 


36  OFFICERS  OF  THE 

cal  churches.  Thus  Peter  addressed  the  Cliristians  scat- 
tered tlirougliout  "  Pontus,  Galatia,  Cappadocia,  Asia, 
and  Bithynia,"  in  all  wliich  provinces  Paul  labored 
much,  planted  many  churches,  and  addressed  epistles  to 
several  of  them. 

Q.  42.  What  was  the  office  of  the  Evan- 
gelists ? 

A.  As  the  twelve  Apostles  could  not  person- 
ally preach  the  Gospel  everywhere,  and  nurse 
adequately  all  the  infant  churches  till  they  were 
able  to  dispense  with  foreign  aid,  they  chose  the 
most  enlightened  and  competent  of  their  fellow 
Christians  to  be  their  assistants,  their  travel- 
ing companions,  and  their  envoys  to  visit  and 
reside  temporarily  in  certain  districts  of  coun- 
try, in  order  to  instruct  the  converts  more  fully 
and  organize  them  into  churches.  Besides 
these  immediate  coadjutors  of  the  Apostles, 
many  other  of  the  early  Christians  took  upon 
them  the  office  of  public  teachers  and  propa- 
gators of  Christianity.  And  they  were  en- 
couraged by  the  Apostles  in  doing  so,  for  in 
that  early  age,  any  private  Christian  might 
preach  the  Gospel  and  administer  its  ordinan- 
ces, without  any  formal  license  or  consecra- 
tion to  the  work. 

That  unordainud  men  were  encouraged  to  preach  the 


PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.  37 

Gospel,  and  were  useful,  is  apparent  from  the  liistory  of 
Apollos,  Acts  xviii.  24-28,  who,  being  merely  a  disciple 
of  John  the  Baptist,  but  mighty  in  the  Scriptures,  when 
instructed  by  Aquila  and  his  wife  Priscilla,  immediately 
commenced  preaching  at  Ephesus,  and  was  thence 
recommended  to  Corinth,  where  he  was  so  successful  a 
preacher,  that  Paul  says,  1  Cor.  iii.  6,  "  I  have  planted, 
Apollos  watered,  but  God  gave  the  increase."  See 
Gieseler's  Text  Book,  by  Cunningham,  vol.  i.  p.  58,  and 
Coleman's  Christian  Antiquities,  p.  49. 

Q.  43.  Have  the  offices  of  Apostles  and 
Evangelists  continued  to  exist  in  the  Christian 
church  down  to  modern  times  ? 

A.  The  office  of  Apostles  has  not  continued, 
and  from  the  nature  of  it,  could  not  become 
permanent.  But  the  office  of  Evangelists, 
under  different  regulations,  has  existed  in  all 
ages  ;  and  it  still  continues  in  the  missionaries 
to  the  unevangelized,  and  in  the  ministers  of 
the  Gospel  who  labor  among  the  feeble  and 
vacant  churches,  or  who  otherwise  serve  the 
Church  Universal,  without  having  the  pastoral 
care  of  any  local  church. 

Q.  44.  What  officers  of  the  second  class,  or 
officers  of  local  churches,  are  recognized  in 
the  New  Testament  ? 

A.  Two  distinct  orders,  namely,  Elders  and 
Deacons. 

4 


38  OFFICERS  OF  THE 

Q.  45.  What  were  the  Elders  of  a  local 
church  ? 

A.  A  Board  of  their  most  competent  men, 
appointed  to  take  the  oversight  of  the  little 
community,  and  to  manage  all  its  concerns, 
agreeably  to  the  by-laws  of  the  association. 

Q.  46.  What  evidence  have  we  that  they 
were  a  Board  ? 

A.  1.  There  was  a  plurality  of  elders  in 
each  church.  Acts  xiv.  23,  and  xv.  4,  and  xx. 
17.     Titus  i.  5.     James  v.  14.     1  Pet.  v.  1. 

A.  2.  They  are  always  addressed  collec- 
tively.    See  Acts  xx.  17.    Phil.  i.  1. 

A.  3.  We  find  no  intimation  of  any  distinc- 
tion of  rank  or  power  among  them. 

A.  4.  Christian  churches  were  modeled  after 
the  form  of  the  Jewish  SvnaofOffues,  which  are 
acknowledged  to  have  been  under  the  control 
of  a  Board  of  Elders. 

If  these  elders  constituted  a  Board,  they 
would  of  course  need,  and  doubtless  had,  a 
Moderator  or  Chairman.  See  Vitringa,  de 
Synag.  Vet.  Lib.  I,  Cap.  II. 

Q.  47.  What  were  their  official  titles,  or 
designations  as  officers  ? 

A.  Their  most  common  title  is  that  of 
Elders  ;  as  in  the  texts  above  cited  :  but  they 


PRIMITIVE   CHURCH.  39 

were  also  called  Bishops  or  Overseers  ;  as  in 
Phil.  i.  1.  Acts  XX.  28.  1  Tim.  iii.  2.  Titus 
i.  7. 

That  the  titles  Bishops  and  Elders  designate  one  and 
the  same  order  of  church  officers  in  the  New  Testament, 
has  been  so  fully  sliown  by  various  writers,  from  Jerome 
A.  D.  380  to  the  present  time,  that  it  is  unnecessary  to 
repeat  the  proof.  See,  for  example,  Gieseler's  Text 
Book,  by  Cunningham,  vol.  i,  sec.  29,  Note  1  ;  and 
sec.  32,  Note  2. 

Q.  48.  How  were  the  Elders  appointed  and 
inducted  into  office  ? 

A.  They  were  elected  by  the  brethren  of 
their  respective  churches,  and  were  solemnly 
invested  with  office  by  prayer  and  the  imposi- 
tion of  hands. 

I'he  proofs  that  local  churches  appointed 
their  own  Elders  by  election,  are  : 

1.  All  the  designations  to  office  in  the  local 
churches  described  in  the  New  Testament, 
were  by  the  free  choice  of  the  people  ;  for 
example,  the  seven  Deacons,  Acts  vi.  6,  and 
"  the  brother — chosen  of  the  churches  to  travel 
with  Paul"  to  Jerusalem,  and  carry  the  contri- 
butions to  the  saints  there,  2  Cor.  viii.  19. 
Delegates  were  also  chosen  by  the  church  at 
Antioch,  to  go  to  Jerusalem,  with   Paul  and 


40  OFFICERS  OF  THE 

Barnabas,  to  the  consultation  respecting  the 
circumcision  of  Gentiles,  Acts  xv.  2.  And 
even  a  successor  to  Judas  in  the  Apostleship, 
was  elected  in  a  popular  assembly,  who  chose 
two  men,  and  then  cast  lots  between  them, 
Acts  i.  23-26. 

2.  The  Apostles  nowhere  claimed  controll- 
ing power  over  local  churches,  or  asserted  the 
right  to  appoint  their  officers.  On  the  con- 
trary, they  treated  these  churches  as  bands  of 
brethren,  perfectly  free  and  independent,  and 
only  took  upon  themselves  to  make  known  to 
them  the  will  of  God. 

3.  Local  churches  being  altogether  volun- 
tary associations,  (Ques.  28,)  their  right  to  ap- 
point their  own  officers  would  follow  of  course. 

4.  The  principle,  that  no  elder  or  bishop 
should  be  imposed  on  any  church,  but  that  their 
free  consent  was  necessary,  previous  to  in- 
duction, continued  during  three  centuries.  See 
Murdock's  Mosheim,  Cent.  I,  P.  II,  Oh.  II, 
Sec.  6.  Coleman's  Christian  Antiquities,  p.  60. 
Gieseler's  Text  Book,  by  Cunningham,  vol.  i, 
p.  158.  That  the  ordinary  mode  of  inducting 
a  person  into  office,  or  of  designating  him  to 
any  important  service  in  the  churches,  was  by 
prayer,  with  fasting,  and  the  laying  on  of  hands, 


PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.  41 

by  the  Presbytery  or  Elders,  seems  manifest 
from  Acts  vi.  6,  and  xiii.  3,  and  xiv.  22, 1  Tim. 
iv.  14. 

Q.  49.  What  were  their  official  powers  and 
duties  ? 

A.  Their  official  powers  were  precisely  such 
as  the  constitution  of  the  churches  gave  them. 
They  were  properly  executive  officers,  and 
not  either  legislative  or  judicial.  Their  duties 
were,  to  preside  in  all  meetings  of  the  body, 
aid  in  their  deliberations,  and  execute  their 
decisions  ;  to  see  that  the  by-laws  were  carried 
into  effect ;  and  to  be  ensamples,  guides,  and 
counselors  to  all  the  brethren. 

That  such  were  their  powers  and  duties,  appears  from 
the  significant  titles  given  them,  from  the  terms  which 
denote  their  official  acts,  and  from  the  qualifications 
which  were  required  in  them.  They  bore  the  significant 
titles  of  Overseers  or  Bishops,  {liriaKonoi,)  Acts  xx.  28. 
Philip,  i.  1.  1  Tim.  iii.  2.  Titus  i.  7.  Of  Shepherds  or 
Pastors,  TToineves,  Acts  iv.  11.  And  of  Leaders  or  Pre- 
siders,  Trpoe^cJTes,  or  6t  npors-ajxevoi,  1  Tim.  v.  17.  Rom. 
xii.  8.  1  Thes.  v.  12.  And  their  official  acts  were  de- 
noted by  the  expressive  terms,  to  guard  and  guide,  as  a 
shepherd  his  flock,  iroifiaiveiv,  Acts  xx.  28.  1  Peter  v.  2. 
To  oversee,  eiriTKorreTv,  1  Peter  v.  2.  To  take  care  of, 
inifxeXcTOai,  1  Tim.  ui.  5.  To  watch,  Yp^yopeTv,  Acts  xx. 
31.  To  help  or  aid  the  weak,  dvTiXaix0dv£s-9ai,  Acts 
XX.  35. 

4* 


42  OFFICERS  OF  THE 

The  qualifications  required  in  an  Elder  were,  not  deep 
^earning,  theological  or  secular;  not  skill  and  sound 
judgment  in  expounding  the  Scriptures  ;  not  popular  elo- 
quence or  superior  talents  for  public  speaking  ;  but  solid, 
consistent  piety,  an  exemplary  life,  discreetness  in  all  their 
conduct,  and  such  a  weight  of  character  and  such  wis- 
dom of  speech,  as  would  fit  them  to  be  the  influential  or 
head  men  in  their  respective  communities.  See  1  Tim. 
iii.  2-7.  Titus  i.  6-9.  See  also  Neander's  Apostel- 
geschichte,  I,  p.  123,  &c. 

Q.  50.  Was  it  not  their  official  duty  to  preach 
to  the  congregations,  to  lead  in  their  public 
devotions,  and  to  administer  the  holy  sacra- 
ment? 

A.  No.  They  were  not  by  virtue  of  their 
office,  the  public  teachers  of  religion  nor  the 
leaders  of  the  public  devotions  ;  but  like  the 
Elders  in  the  synagogue,  they  presided  over 
the  worship  and  the  reading  and  exposition  of 
the  Scriptures  in  the  Christian  assemblies.  At 
the  same  time  they  had  the  right,  as  individ- 
uals, to  take  an  active  part  in  public  worship, 
so  far  as  they  saw  fit,  and  as  seemed  to  meet 
the  wants  and  wishes  of  the  congregation. 
And  as  they  were  the  most  intelligent  and 
influential  men  in  their  respective  bodies,  we 
may  suppose,  that  ordinarily  they  were  the 
chief  speakers  in  the  worshiping  assemblies, 


PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.  43 

except  when  an  Apostle  or  Evangelist,  or  some 
one  having  extraordinary  spiritual  gifts,  was 
present. 

That  all  male  persons  had  the  right  of  speaking  in  the 
assembhes  of  the  early  Cliristians,  and  that  the  pri\'ilege 
was  sometimes  abused,  seems  to  be  clearly  represented  in 
1  Cor.  xiv.  2.3-37.  The  right  would  also  be  inferable  from 
the  practice  of  the  s3Tiagogue,  after  which  the  first 
Christian  churches  copied.  See  Ques.  34,  35.  See  also 
Gieseler's  Text  Book,  by  Cunningham,  I,  p.  58.  Nean- 
der's  Apostelgeschichte,  I,  pp.  30,  &c.  127,~«fec.  Cole- 
man's Cliristian  Antiquities,  p.  49. 

The  fact  that  the  religious  services  of  the  Primitive 
Christian  assemblies  were  performed  by  the  brethren, 
without  distinction,  shows  that  those  services  were  not 
considered  the  official  work  of  the  elders,  Heb.  x.  25- 
Still,  those  elders  who  were  distinguished  for  their  labors 
in  "  word  and  doctrine,"  deserved  the  highest  considera- 
tion for  their  pecuhar  exertions  and  usefulness,  1  Tim- 
V.  17.  And  it  was  a  matter  of  importance  in  selecting 
persons  for  this  office,  that  men  well  qualified  to  teach 
should  be  chosen,  rather  than  those  who  would  not  turn 
their  official  influence  to  so  good  an  accoimt,  and  who 
would  be  less  able  to  silence  tlae  cavils  of  the  enemies  of 
Christianity,  1  Tim.  iii.  2. 

Q.  51.  What  were  the  functions  of  Deacons 
in  the  early  churches  ? 

A.  They  seem  to  have  been  assistants  to  the 
Elders,  or  the  public  servants  of  the  churches. 
They  acted  as  messengers  and  envoys,  aided 


44  OFFICERS  OF  THE 

in  keeping  order  in  the  public  assemblies,  as- 
sisted in  the  administration  of  ordinances,  and 
in  the  collection  and  distribution  of  the  public 
alms,  and  under  the  direction  of  the  elders, 
performed  various  minor  pastoral  duties. 

The  Scriptures,  indeed,  afford  us  but  little  direct  in- 
formation respecting  their  functions.  The  word  Deacon 
properly  denotes  one  who  serves :  but  it  is  used  with  great 
latitude  in  the  New  Testament.  The  seven  Deacons 
mentioned  in  Acts  vi.  1-6,  were  appointed  for  a  special 
purpose  ;  and  we  ought  not  to  limit  the  permanent  office 
to  the  single  duty  of  those  special  officers.  If  we  con- 
sider the  quaUfications  for  the  office  of  a  Deacon,  in  1 
Tim.  iii.  8,  13,  we  shall  see  that  very  nearly  the  same 
qualifications  were  required  in  Deacons  as  in  Elders:  from 
which  we  may  infer  that  their  duties  could  not  have  been  of 
a  totally  different  nature.  Besides,  it  seems  to  be  intimated 
in  V.  13,  that  the  office  of  Deacon  was  often  a  stepping 
stone  to  the  office  of  Elder. 

Q.  52.  Who  were  the  Prophets  and  the  men 
of  spiritual  gifts,  in  the  Apostolic  age,  and 
what  were  their  functions  ? 

A.  Inspiration  and  miraculous  powers  were, 
in  those  times,  conferred  not  only  on  the  twelve 
Apostles,  but  also,  in  a  lower  degree,  on  the 
Evangelists  and  teachers,  and  on  other  eminent 
Christians,  for  the  edification  of  the  church, 
and  for  the  confirmation  of  the  Christian  doc- 


PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.  45 

trine  :  and  all  these  special  divine  influences 
were  called  spiritual  gifts,  ■)(a^tiixaTa  "TTvsojxarixa, 
because  they  proceeded  from  the  Holy  Spirit, 
working  in  those  who  possessed  them. 

These  gifts  were,  tindoubtedly,  of  inestimable  value  to 
the  nascent  churches :  but  as  they  have  long  since  ceased 
to  exist,  (their  place  being  suppHed  by  the  New  Tes- 
tament Scriptures,  and  by  an  educated  Cliristian  min- 
istry,) we  cannot  expect  to  obtain  very  distinct  concep- 
tions of  their  various  phases  and  operations.  It  appears 
that  they  were  imparted  as  quite  an  ordinary  thing,  by 
the  Apostles  to  their  baptized  fellow  Cliristians,  by  prayer 
and  the  imposition  of  hands,  Acts  viii.  15-19,  x.  44-47, 
xi.  15-17,  xix.  6.    2  Tim.  i.  6.    Heb.  ii.  4. 

Concerning  these  spiritual  gifts,  their  variety,  their  dis- 
tribution, their  uses,  and  their  procedure  from  the  Holy 
Spirit,  Paul  discourses  at  large,  in  his  first  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians,  chap.  xii.  It  would  seem,  from  his  account, 
that  they  were  shared  in  some  measure  or  degree,  by 
nearly  all  true  believers  in  Christ,  vs.  7,  11,  12,  &,c.,  and 
that  by  means  of  them  the  church  universal  became  hke 
an  'organic  living  body,  composed  of  many  members, 
each  fitted  for  some  office  or  function  beneficial  to  the 
whole.  But  all  these  possessors  of  spiritual  gifts  could 
not  have  been  office-bearers  in  the  churches ;  for  we 
cannot  suppose  so  great  a  number  and  variety  of  public 
officers  as  there  were  of  spiritual  gifts.  Besides,  the 
Apostle  himself,  v.  12,  &c.,  clearly  intimates,  that  all 
the  possessors  of  such  gifts  were  not  clothed  wnth  official 
power  over  Ihe  body ;  neither  should  Ihe^i  aspire  to  be^ 
but  should   be  content  with   filling  the  sphere  allotted  to 


46  OFFICERS  OF  THE 

them :  see  also  Rom.  xii,  3-8.  There  is  another  pas- 
sage, Eph.  iv.  11,  12,  in  which  Paul  has  been  supposed 
to  enumerate  the  proper  church  officers  instituted  by 
Clirist  himself.  But  the  passage  seems  rather  to  enu- 
merate the  principal  functionaries,  whether  officers  or 
not  officers,  by  whom  the  Gospel  dispensation  was  made 
efficient  in  its  first  promulgation. 

Q.  53.  What  was  the  nature  and  form  of 
Ordination  in  the  Apostolic  times  ? 

A.  Ordination  was  simply  induction  into 
office,  or  the  installment  of  an  officer  elect  : 
and  it  consisted  in  the  devout  worship  of  God, 
with  fasting  and  prayer,  and  the  imposition  of 
hands,  Acts  vi.  6,  xiii.  3. 

That  ordination  in  the  apostoHc  times  was  not  a  proper 
consecration,  like  that  of  Aaron  and  his  sons  to  the 
priesthood,  or  like  that  of  the  Christian  clergy  in  after 
ages,  appears  from  the  terms  by  wliich  it  is  expressed. 
The  appropriate  terms  for  consecration,  as  appUed  to 
Aaronic  priests,  and  to  later  Christian  priests,  were 
TzXdcoGig  and  reXziooi.  See  the  Sept.  Ex.  xxix.  10,  22, 
26,27,29,31,  33,  34,  35;  and  elsewhere,  often:  also 
Suicer's  Thesaur.  Eccles.  II,  p.  1261 :  and  compare 
Heb.  vii.  28.  But  neither  of  these  terms  is  ever  used  in 
the  New  Testament  to  denote  the  ordination  of  church 
officers.  The  words  used  for  this  purpose  are,  ■x^tiporoviixi, 
to  elect  or  to  appoint.  Acts  xiv.  23 — Kadirn[ih  to  estab- 
lish, to  set  up,  Titus  i.  5 — and  riOri^i,  to  constitute, 
1  Tim.  ii.  7.     And  neither  of  these  words  in  their  strict 


PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.  47 

and  proper  sense  imports  any  thing  more  than  a  simple 
appoijitment  to  office,  or  an  instaUment  in  office.  See 
Suicer's  Thesaur.  Eccles.  II,  p.  1512,  &c.,  and  Schleus- 
ner's  Greek  Lexicon. 

Q.  54.  Did  ordination  convey  to  the  per- 
son official  powers,  which  he  could  not  other- 
wise possess  ? 

A.  No.  The  ordination  was  rather  a  recog- 
nition of  him  as  one  already  clothed  with  offi- 
cial powers,  by  virtue  of  his  previous  election 
or  appointment  to  office.  He  must  necessarily 
enter  on  his  official  duties  at  some  particular 
time,  and  it  was  very  suitable  to  mark  that 
occasion  by  devoutly  commending  him  to  God, 
in  a  public  assembly,  and  by  supplicating  the 
divine  blessing  on  his  official  life. 

Q.  55.  Were  the  Apostles  and  Evangelists 
and  all  the  officers  of  local  churches  thus  or- 
dained ? 

A.  We  have  no  evidence  that  they  were  ; 
for  in  the  New  Testament,  so  little  importance 
is  given  to  ordinations,  that  no  precept  is  re- 
corded requiring  them,  and  they  are  seldom 
mentioned,  and  then  only  casually. 

We  have  no  account  of  the  ordination  of  any  one  of 
the  Apostles  or  Evangelists,  previous  to  his  entering  on 
his  office.     Indeed,  the  only  ordination  of  mdividuals 


48  OFFICERS  OF  THE 

mentioned  in  the  New  Testament  are,  (1.)  that  of  the 
seven  Deacons,  Acts  vi.  6,  (2.)  that  of  Paul  and  Barna- 
bas by  the  church  at  Antioch,  when  about  to  commence 
their  missionary  tour,  Acts  xiii.  2,  3,  and  (3.)  that  of 
1  Timothy  iv.  14,  where  Paul  speaks  of  the  gifts  that 
Timothy  had  received  by  the  la3ring  on  of  the  hands 
of  the  Presbytery  and  of  Paul  himself,  1  Tim.  iv.  14.  2 
Tim.  i.  6.  Besides  these  particular  ordinations,  we  have 
general  notices  of  the  ordinations  of  Elders  in  every 
church  or  city.  Acts  xiv.  23.     Titus  1.  5. 

Q.  56.  Who  had  the  power  of  ordaining 
officers  in  the  primitive  church  ? 

A.  Those,  doubtless,  who  had  the  power 
of  electing  or  appointing  such  officers  ;  provi- 
ded they  were  competent  to  conduct  the  sol- 
emn exercises  in  a  proper  manner. 

But  the  new  formed  churches  would,  of  course,  wish 
to  have  the  presence  and  assistance  of  an  Apostle  or 
Evangelist,  to  perform  lor  them  the  solemn  services,  and 
to  point  out  the  duties  both  of  the  officers  and  those  over 
whom  they  were  placed.  And  in  the  older  churches, 
the  presence  and  aid  of  neighboring  church  officers  and 
brethren  would  naturally  be  desired  ;  and  would  greatly 
tend  to  strengthen  the  ties  of  fellowship  and  fraternal 
feeling  among  contiguous  churches. 

Q.  57.  Did  the  officers  of  the  primitive 
church,  by  virtue  of  their  ordination,  become 
a    distinct    order    of  men    from   the    people, 


PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.  49 

such  as  the  Jewish  Priests,  and  such  as  the 
Clergy  of  the  Christian  church,  in  subsequent 
,ages  ? 

A.  No.  They  did  not  become  a  distinct  order 
of  men,  clothed  with  a  peculiar  sanctity  in  the 
household  of  faith  ;  but  were  merely  the  breth- 
ren charged  with  certain  duties,  and  invested 
with  certain  powers,  for  the  common  good  of 
the  church. 

See,  on  this  fundamental  point,  Neander's 
Kirchengeschichte,  vol.  i,  p.  276,  &lc.,  299, 
300.  Gieseler's  Text  Book,  by  Cunningham, 
vol.  i,  sec.  29,  p.  58.  Henke's  Kirchengesch. 
vol.  i,  sec.  13,  p.  72,  &c.  G.  J.  Plank's 
Gesch.  der  chrishl.  kirchl.  Gesellschafts-Ver- 
fassung,  Jahr  68-300,  ch.  x.,  vol.  i,  149,  (fee, 
and  Coleman's  Christian  Antiqq.,  p.  66,  67. 

Both  the  .Jewish  Levitical  Law  and  the  Pagan  reli- 
gions recognized  a  holy  order  of  Priests — consecrated 
persons,  standing  in  nearer  relations  to  the  Deity  than 
other  men,  and  who  alone  could  perform  certain  reU- 
gious  acts,  in  a  manner  acceptable  to  God  and  profita- 
ble to  the  people.  But  primitive  Christianity  acknowl- 
edged only  one  Priest,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ; 
through  whom  all  beHevers  may  draw  near  to  God,  and 
make  known  their  wants  and  present  their  sacrifices  of 
praise.  These  fundamental  principles  were  everywhere 
inculcated  by  Christ  liimself,  and  by  all  his  Apostles. 
5 


50  OFFICERS,  <fcC. 

But  in  the  next  age  after  the  Apostles,  the  Cliristian 
Churches  began  to  copy  after  the  nations  around  them  ; 
and  very  soon  the  officers  of  the  churches  claimed  to  be 
a  Christian  Clergy,  made  so  by  their  Ordination,  and 
possessing  important  powers  and  prerogatives,  which 
they  received  directly  from  Christ  through  the  hands  of 
his  Apostles  and  ministers.  And  thenceforth  Ordina- 
tion became  an  awful  and  mysterious  transaction, 
which  none  but  consecrated  hands  could  validly  per- 
form, and  which,  when  so  performed,  transfoi-med  a 
Christian  brother  into  a  clergyman,  a  holy  man,  a  priest 
of  God,  or  at  least,  a  competent  dispenser  of  the  sacra- 
ments, and  an  authorized  ruler  and  teacher  in  the 
church.     (See  Planck,  ubi  supra,  p.  159,  &-c.) 


CHAPTER   IV. 

CHANGES  IN  THE  ORGANIZATION  AND  GOVERN- 
MENT OF  THE  CHURCHES  AFTER  THE  APOS- 
TOLIC AGE. 

Q.  58.  Did  the  primitive  churches  retain, 
for  a  long  time,  their  original  form  and  organi- 
zation ? 

A.  No.  Changes  began  to  be  made  as 
soon  as  the  Apostles  were  gone,  and  change 
after  change  succeeded,  till  gradually  the 
whole  system  of  church  order  was  subverted. 

Q.  59.  Are  we  able  to  trace  accurately  the 
commencement  and  the  progress  of  all  these 
changes  ? 

A.  We  are  not ;  because  the  history  of  the 
church  is  nearly  a  blank  for  about  a  century 
after  the  Apostles,  and  it  affords  but  scanty  in- 
formation for  a  much  longer  period. 

The  writings  of  the  Apostolic  Fathers  are  meagre 
performances,  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  first  epis- 
tle of  Clemens  Romanus,  are  of  very  questionable  a  u- 


52  THE  CHURCHES  AFTER  THE 

thenticity.  The  writer  next  after  them  is  Justin  Mar- 
t3nr,  who  lived  about  the  middle  of  the  second  century. 
He  was  followed  by  the  other  Apologists,  and  by  Irenae- 
us  and  Clemens  Alexandrinus,  who  close  the  list  of 
Christian  visiters  in  the  second  century.  Now,  of  all 
these  ^^^iters  of  the  two  first  centuries,  not  one  has  at- 
tempted any  regular  delineation  of  the  constitution  and 
order  of  the  Christian  Churches  in  his  day  ;  and  it  is 
only  on  a  few  occasions  that  they  incidentally  drop  some 
remarks  bearing  on  the  subject.  And  when  we  come 
to  the  more  voluminous  writers  of  the  third  century,  who 
give  us  a  fuller  view  of  the  chm-ches  in  their  age,  we 
find  that  very  great  changes  had  already  been  made, 
of  the  reality  of  which,  and  of  their  origin  and  causes, 
these  writers  had  very  inadequate  conceptions. 

Q.  60.  What  was,  probably,  the  first  im- 
portant change  in  the  form  and  order  of  the 
primitive  churches  ? 

A.  The  several  churches  began  to  have 
their  appropriate  religious  teachers,  who  resi- 
ded constantly  among  them,  presided  in  their 
assemblies  for  worship,  taught  and  instructed 
the  people,  administered  the  sacraments,  of- 
fered up  the  public  prayers,  and  were  at  the 
head  of  the  board  of  Elders  in  each  church. 

This  important  and  salutary  change  would  naturally 
occur  in  the  progress  of  events.  For,  by  continued 
practice  and  study,  prominent  individuals  would  grad- 


APOSTOLIC   AGE.  53 

iially  acqiure  talents  for  teaching  and  ministering  in 
holy  things  superior  to  those  of  their  brethren  :  and  as  the 
Spiritual  Gifts,  doubtless,  gradually  ceased  when  the 
Christian  Scriptures  became  known,  and  as  study  and  re- 
flection supplied  the  place  of  supernatural  enlighten- 
ment, these  brethren  would  of  course  become  the 
chief  speakers  in  the  public  assemblies  of  their  respect- 
ive churches,  or  would  come  to  perform  regularly  and 
constantly  much  the  same  services  as  had  been  per- 
formed by  the  Apostles  and  Evangelists  when  occasion- 
ally present.  They  would  indeed  become  a  sort  of  per- 
manent and  stationary  successors  to  the  itinerant 
Apostles  and  Evangelists.  That  is,  they  would  be- 
come, in  the  language  of  modern  times,  the  regular 
pastors  and  teachers  of  their  respective  churches  ;  yet 
without  excluding  the  other  brethren,  and  especially  the 
Elders,  from  the  occasional  exercise  of  their  gifts. 

These  proper  teachers  and  pastors  of  individual 
churches  were,  doubtless,  many  of  them  persons  who 
had  acquired  their  knowledge  and  talents  for  the  minis- 
try, while  filling  the  offices  of  Deacon  first,  and  then  of 
Elder.  And  if  so,  they  would  be  already  clothed  with 
the  office  of  Elder,  at  the  time  they  became  official 
teachers.  And  if  they  had  other  training,  or  had  come 
from  other  chm-ches,  they  would,  doubtless,  at  once  be 
elected  to  the  office  of  Elder.  And  being  Elders,  and 
the  principal  functionaries  in  their  churches,  as  well  as 
the  most  enlightened  and  most  eloquent  members  of 
their  boards,  they  would  of  course  become  the  most  ac- 
tive and  influential  men  in  the  board  of  Elders.  They 
would  be  made  the  standing  Moderators,  as  well  as  the 
chief  executive  officers  of  those  boards ;  and  the  other 
5* 


54  THE  CHURCHES  AFTER  THE 

Elders,  by  yielding  deference  to  their  opinions,  and  re^ 
lying  upon  tlieir  wisdom  and  powers  of  execution, 
would  grada^lly  come  to  leave  most  things  to  their  dis- 
cretion, or  would  themselves  become  little  more  than  the 
official  advisers,  or  the  privy  council  of  these  exclusive 
pastors  and  teachers.  And  when  this  became  the  state 
of  things,  the  official  titles,  Bishop  and  Presbyter, 
common  to  all  members  of  the  board,  would  have  a  high- 
er import,  when  applied  to  them ;  and  in  process  of 
time  might  become  appropriated  to  them  exclusively, 
as  seems  to  have  been  the  fact  near  the  close  of  the 
second  century. 

The  earliest  intimation  of  the  existence  of  such  an 
order  of  officers  in  local  churches,  is,  perhaps,  near  the 
end  of  the  first  century,  in  the  superscriptions  of  the 
Apocalyptical  epistles  to  ih.Q  Angels  of  the  seven  churches 
of  Proconsular  Asia.  Such  official  teachers  of  single 
chm'ches  may,  for  a  time,  have  been  called  the  Angels 
of  their  churches,  in  allusion  to  the  title  Angels  of  the 
Congregation,  in  the  Jewish  Sj-nagogues.  (See  the 
answer  to  Ques.  31.)  But  against  so  early  a  rise  of 
this  class  of  officers,  the  authority  of  Clemens  Romanus 
seems  to  militate  ;  for  he  represents  the  church  of  Cor- 
inth, about  the  year  96,  as  having  only  two  kinds  of  offi- 
cers, namely,  a  company  of  Elders  or  Bishops,  and  a 
number  of  Deacons;  and  he  reproves  the  Corinthians 
for  having  factiously  displaced  some  of  their  Elders, 
when  they  had  done  nothing  censurable.  (See  his  epist. 
I.  ad'  Corinth,  §  42,  44,  47,  54,  57.)  Justin  Martyr, 
however,  about  fifty  years  later,  very  distinctly  men- 
tions a  chuich  officer,  whom  lie  calls  the  President, 
(©  vpo£5-o)s,)  who  instructed  the  people  every  Sunday,  of- 


APOSTOLIC   AGE.  55 

fercd  the  prayers,  blessed  the  Sacramental  bread  and  was 
the  head  and  leader  of  the  whole  Christian  worship. 
(See  his  Apol.  II,  p.  97,  98,  ed.  Paris,  1636. 

Q.  61.  What  was  the  next  step  of  depart- 
ure from  the  form  and  order  of  the  primitive 
churches  ? 

A.  The  ecclesiastical  functionaries  gradu- 
ally imbibed  the  idea,  that  their  offices  were 
of  divine  appointment ;  that  the  powers  and 
prerogatives  they  possessed,  did  not  come  to 
them  from  their  churches,  but  directly  from 
Christ  through  a  canonical  ordination  ;  that 
they,  of  course,  constituted  a  proper  clergy,  a 
higher  and  holier  order  of  persons  than  the 
laity  ;  and  that,  by  divine  right,  it  belonged  to 
them,  and  to  those  delegated  by  them,  to  rule 
and  govern  the  church,  to  admit  and  exclude 
members,  to  preach  and  instruct  the  people,  to 
administer  the  sacraments,  and  to  conduct  on 
all  occasions  the  public  worship  of  God. 

These  ideas  only  glimmer  faintly  in  the  un- 
adulterated writings  of  the  second  century  ; 
but  in  the  third  and  fourth  centuries,  especial- 
ly in  the  latter,  they  stand  out  in  bold  relief  in 
the  writings  of  various  ecclesiastics,  and  in 
the  acts  of  the  synods  or  councils. 


56  THE   CHURCHES  AFTER  THE 

This  supposed  divine  right  of  Clergymen  only,  to  bear 
rule  in  the  churches,  and  to  officiate  in  holy  things,  is 
the  radical  principle  of  that  High  Churchism,  which 
still  prevails  among  various  denominations  of  Christians. 
For  it  is,  comparatively,  of  little  importance  how  many 
grades  of  church  officers  w^e  admit,  or  what  distribution 
of  power  exists  among  them,  provided  they  are  allowed 
to  grasp  and  to  wield  all  ecclesiastical  power,  so  that 
the  laity  have  no  authority  in  sacred  things,  but  are  sub- 
jected to  the  absolute  authority  of  their  spiritual  lords. 

Q.  62.  What  simultaneous  change  occurred 
in  regard  to  the  supposed  nature  and  efficacy 
of  religious  rites  and  ordinances  ? 

A.  As  the  ministers  of  religion  were  sup- 
posed to  have  a  divine  commission ,  so  all  their  of- 
ficial acts  and  administrations  were  supposed  to 
be  accompanied  by  a  mysterious  divine  efficacy. 
And  hence,  all  religious  rites  and  ordinances, 
instead  of  being  regarded  merely  as  the  ap- 
pointed mediums  of  worship,  acceptable  to 
God  and  profitable  to  men  so  far  as  they  were 
attended  with  right  views  and  feelings  in  the 
worshiper,  came  to  be  regarded  with  reverence 
for  their  own  sake,  and  to  be  relied  upon  as 
the  direct  and  proper  mediums  of  sanctifica- 
tion.  For  they  were  regarded  as  either  the 
channels  through  which  God  causes  his  grace 


APOSTOLIC  AGE.  57 

to  flow,  or  as  having  in  themselves  a  mysteri- 
ous efficacy,  and,  in  either  case,  as  transform- 
ing the  character  and  changing  the  state  of  all 
those  to  whom  they  were  duly  administered. 

Thus  Christian  Baptism  became,  either  itself  regen- 
eration, or  the  appointed  channel  of  the  regenerating 
grace  of  God  ;  and  thus,  in  either  way,  it  would  be  the 
infalUble  medium  of  regeneration,  and  the  door  of  salva- 
tion to  sinful  man.  In  Hke  manner,  the  Eucharist,  if 
consecrated  by  one  duly  authorized,  was  an  appointed 
and  efficient  means  for  sanctifying  the  heart.  So  also 
the  official  blessing  of  a  clergyman  duly  ordained,  was 
efficacious  before  God,  and  insured  the  divine  favor  to 
the  persons  on  whom  it  was  bestowed.  The  canonical 
clergy,  moreover,  could  give  a  valid  Absolution  to  sin- 
ners, on  certain  conditions  ;  or  they  could  withhold  such 
Absolution,  and  thereby  endanger  their  eternal  salva- 
tion. Even  the  chiu-ch  buildings,  and  their  vessels  and 
furniture,  when  duly  consecrated  by  these  ministers  of 
God,  acquired  such  a  sanctity,  that  it  was  sacrilege  to 
use  them  for  any  worldly  purpose  whatever.  Moreover, 
the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  holy  water,  and  Hghted  can- 
dles, and  tlie  smoke  of  incense,  and  other  sacred  cere- 
monies and  objects,  were  supposed  to  be  of  essential 
benefit  to  the  souls  and  bodies  of  men,  when  used  with 
due  reverence  and  according  to  the  established  ritual. 
But  it  was  canonical  ordination,  or  the  consecration  of 
church  officers,  by  such  as  had  received  consecration  in 
a  direct  line  from  the  Apostles,  which  was  supposed  to 
have  the  most  potent  and  mysterious  efficacy.     It  trans- 


58  THE  CHURCHES  AFTER  THE 

formed  a  common  Christian  into  a  Clergyman,  a  holy 
man  of  God,  and  mvested  him  permanently  and  forever 
with  all  the  wonderful  powers  and  prerogatives  attribu- 
ted to  these  vicegerents  of  God. 

Q.  63.  What  change  in  the  condition  of  the 
laity,  grew  out  of  these  high  church  princi- 
ples ? 

A.  When  these  principles  became  fully  de- 
veloped, the  condition  of  the  laity  was  totally 
changed.  For  they  lost  all  their  sacred  rights 
and  privileges  as  members  of  a  fraternity,  or  a 
voluntary  association  of  brethren,  and  sunk 
into  a  state  of  complete  and  absolute  depend- 
ence on  the  clergy. 

The  door  of  admission  to  church  membership  could 
be  opened  only  by  the  priests.  And  they  allowed  no 
one  to  enter,  till  he  had  passed  a  long  period  of  proba- 
tion and  instruction  in  the  character  of  a  Catechiunen  ; 
nor  even  then,  without  sponsors  or  God-fathers  to  give 
bonds  for  him.  When  admitted  into  the  church,  the 
laity  held  all  their  privileges  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
priests.  In  the  public  worship — as  in  that  of  the  Jew- 
ish temple — the  priests  stood  between  the  people  and 
the  Deity.  The  priests  alone  could  approach  the  altar, 
offer  the  pubhc  prayer  and  praise,  explain  the  scriptm-es, 
instruct  and  exhort  the  people,  and  administer  the  holy 
ordinances.  Through  them  alone,  as  the  channels  of 
intercourse,  could  the  laity  commune  publicly  with  their 


APOSTOLIC  AGE.  59 

Maker  and  Redeemer  in  any  divine  ordinance,  or  obtain 
from  it  the  precious  benefits  wliich  it  was  intended  to 
convey  to  men.  In  the  discipUne  of  the  church,  and  in  tlie 
management  of  all  its  temporal  concerns,  the  laity  were 
no  longer  the  citizens  of  a  free  republic,  having  a  voice  _ 
in  the  enactment  of  its  laws  and  in  the  regulation  of 
both  its  external  and  internal  affairs.  For  all  ecclesias- 
tical constitutions  and  laws  were  supposed  to  be  either 
enactments  of  Jesus  Christ  himself,  or  the  decrees  and 
decisions  of  his  divinely  appointed,  and  divinely  guided, 
vicegerents  ;  and  therefore  they  were  all  held  to  be  so 
sacred,  that  no  layman  might  question  their  wisdom,  or 
even  presumfe  to  interpret  them  according  to  his  own 
discretion.  The  condition  of  laymen  in  the  church  was 
like  that  of  minor  children  in  a  household,  who  have  no 
voice  in  the  regulation  and  government  of  the  family,  no 
control  of  its  property,  no  disposal  of  any  tiling  that  be- 
longs to  it.  Their  duties  and  obligations  as  church 
members,  were  all  included  in  perfect  submission,  pro- 
found reverence,  and  impHcit  obedience  to  those  whom 
Gk)d  had  constituted  their  spiritual  guardians  and 
guides. 

Q.  64.  What  was  the  origin  of  the  Episco- 
pal Hierarchy,  with  three  orders  of  Clergy,  in 
the  Christian  Church  ? 

A.  The  introduction  of  stated  teachers  of 
local  churches,  as  described  under  the  60th 
question,  and  the  gradual  transfer  to  them  of 
the  principal  functions  both  of  worship  and 
government,  produced  in  the  end  three  kinds 


60  THE  CHURCHES  AFTER  THE 

of  officers  in  each  church,  viz  :  the  Pastor  or 
Bishop,  just  described,  the  other  Presbyters 
who  were  his  counselors  and  assistants,  and 
the  Deacons  who  were  the  public  servants  of 
the  church.  And  when  these  officers  came  to 
be  regarded  as  a  proper  clergy — an  order  of 
consecrated  men,  and  their  offices  were  con- 
sidered as  of  divine  institution,  (see  Quest. 
61,)  they  very  naturally  began  to  compare 
themselves  with  the  Levitical  clergy  of  the 
Mosaic  dispensation  ;  and,  about  the  year  A.  D. 
200,  the  splendid  titles  of  Highpriest,  Priest, 
and  Levites,  were  actually  applied  to  them : 
and  at  length,  it  was  explicitly  maintained 
that,  by  divine  appointment,  the  churches  con- 
nected with  the  mother  church  of  each  city 
should  form,  in  connection  with  it,  a  diocese, 
and  be  furnished  with  a  bishop  and  a  number 
of  priests  and  deacons,  constituting  a  complete 
episcopal  hierarchy. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  conceive  how,  in  the  progress  of 
thmgs,  such  a  radical  change  in  the  constitution  of  the 
churches  might  take  place.  For  when  the  Christians  in 
a  large  city,  (e.  g.  Jerusalem,  Rome,  Corinth,  &lc.)  be- 
came too  numerous  to  assemble  conveniently  in  one 
house,  they  would  be  compelled  to  meet  separately  in 
different  places  ;  and  yet  they  would  wish  to  be  consid- 


APOSTOLIC  AGE.  6l 

cred  but  one  church  or  fraternity,  and  to  have  one  prin- 
cipal Pastor  or  Bishop,  with  several  assistants  to  supply 
the  different  meetings.  This  arrangement  would  afford 
opportunity  for  the  presbyters  and  even  for  the  Deacons, 
to  be  much  employed  in  ministering  to  the  different  con- 
gregations, under  the  direction  and  supervision  of  the 
chief  Pastor  or  Bishop,  who  might  assign  them  their 
places  of  labor  from  week  to  week,  or  appoint  them  to  be 
stated  preachers  in  the  several  places  of  worship.  And 
this  arrangement  might  extend  to  the  immediate  sub- 
urbs of  the  city,  while  the  several  districts  more  remote, 
to  wliich  the  city  presbyters  could  not  conveniently 
minister,  might  form  distinct  congregations,  with  either 
local  presbyters,  or  dependent  rural  Bishops,  (x^pewicr- 
Koiroi,)  for  their  pastors,  but  still  under  the  supervision 
of  the  cify  Bishop.  And  when  Christianity  became  es- 
tablished in  any  of  the  smaller  cities,  and  a  church 
with  the  usual  officers  was  instituted,  the  same  process 
would  there  go  forward,  as  in  the  larger  cities ;  and 
thus  the  whole  countrj-  would  become  divided  into  dio- 
ceses, with  diocesan  Bishops,  numerous  presbyters,  and 
preaching  Deacons. 

Now  when  this  diocesan  form  of  churches  became 
quite  common,  as  we  suppose  it  did  as  early  as  the 
second  century,  nothing  would  be  wanting  to  the  com- 
plete estabUshment  of  an  episcopal  hierarchy,  but  for 
the  various  classes  of  Christian  ministers  to  arrogate  to 
themselves,  and  the  people  to  accord  to  them,  the  char- 
acter of  a  proper  Clergy  by  divine  appomtment,  distrib- 
uted into  three  orders,  after  the  pattern  of  the  Levitical 
priesthood,  and  dcmving  their  authority  from  Christ 
through  the  medium  of  a  canoniceil  ordination.  And  if 
6 


62  THE  CHURCHES  AFTER  THE 

we  consider  how  readily  all  religious  customs  and  usa- 
ges acquire  sanctity  by  age,  how  prone  men  are  to  at- 
tribute holiness  both  to  persons  and  things  in  any  way 
connected  with  religious  worship,  and  how  natural  it  is 
for  all  classes  of  men  to  improve  every  fair  opportunity 
for  extending  their  own  power  and  influence  ;  and  if  we 
recollect  also,  that  the  people  of  that  age  were  utter 
strangers  to  free  constitutions  of  government  in  church 
or  state,  or  were  accustomed  to  arbitreiry  power  in  all 
pubUc  officers,  whether  civil  or  religious ;  and  that  a^l 
the  Pagan  nations,  as  well  as  the  Jews,  regarded  their 
respective  priests  as  a  proper  clergy,  a  holy  order  of  per- 
sons, invested  with  powers  wliich  no  others  could 
possess,  powers  which  they  derived  from  the  mysterious 
rites  used  in  their  consecration ;  we  need  notjgin  view 
of  all  these  circumstances,  regard  it  as  a  strange  thing, 
and  proof  of  degenerate  piety  and  unholy  ambition  in  the 
Christian  ministry,  if  they,  under  the  influence  of  such 
causes,  gradually  swerved  from  the  principles  of  the 
apostolic  churches,  and  became  at  last  a  complete  hie- 
rarchy. 

The  principles  here  stated  will  account  for  the  occa- 
sional mention  of  Bishops,  Presbyters,  and  Deacons,  as 
three  distinct  classes  of  church  officers,  in  the  last  half 
of  the  second  century,  and  before  the  earhest  notice  of 
the  hierarchy.  For,  we  may  suppose,  three  grades  of 
church  officers  actually  existed  in  the  church,  from  the 
very  next  age  after  the  Apostles.  And  hence,  if  the  ex- 
isting epistles  of  Ignatius  bear  marks  of  a  later  age  than 
the  reign  of  Trajan,  it  is  not  so  much  by  their  maintain- 
ing three  distinct  grades  of  churoJi  officers.  Bishops, 
Presbyters,  and  Deacons,  at  the  time  he  wrote,  as  by  at- 


APOSTOLIC  AGE.  63 

tributing  to  them  a  higher  elevation  above  the  people, 
and  greater  authority  in  the  churches,  than  belongs  to 
so  early  an  age,  or  than  can  be  found  in  any  other  wri- 
ter till  near  a  century  later. 

These  principles  moreover  show,  that  the  episcopal 
hierarchy  was  of  gradual  and  slow  growth.  It  did  not 
start  into  being  at  once,  producing  a  sudden  and  violent 
revolution,  like  those  by  wliich  civil  republics  are  some- 
times overturned  and  divested  of  their  liberties.  The 
powers  originally  inherent  in  the  Christian  churches 
were  so  gradually  transferred  to  the  officers,  that,  nei- 
ther the  ministers  nor  the  people  were  conscious  of  the 
change.  Hence  it  is,  that  the  writers  of  the  early  ages 
are  so  silent  on  the  whole  subject ;  and  hence,  too,  the 
modem  writers  on  church  government  have  very  gen- 
erally agreed  that  Jesus  Christ  himself,  or  his  Apostles, 
established  from  the  beginning  a  hierarchy  of  some  sort, 
i.  6.  a  dominion  over  sacred  things,  in  the  persons  of 
church  officers  ;  and  they  have  disagreed  and  contended 
only  about  the  form  of  this  hierarchy  ;  namely,  whether 
it  was  Papal,  in  the  line  of  St.  Peter  and  his  successors  ; 
or  Prelatical,  in  a  succession  of  diocesan  Bishops, 
Priests,  and  Deacons  ;  or  Preshyterial,  in  local  Pastors 
with  ruling  Elders,  arranged  in  a  gradation  of  ecclesias- 
tical courts  ;  or  Congregational,  in  the  settled  Pastors 
of  independent  churches,  wath  advisory  councils.  For 
all  these  forms  of  hierarchy  recognize  a  real  Clergy, 
created  by  consecration,  and  by  divine  right  exercising 
a  dominion  more  or  less  complete  over  sacred  things. 
But,  according  to  the  principles  we  maintain,  there  was 
no  hierarchy  of  any  kind  set  up  by  the  Apostles ;  nor 


64  THE  CHURCHES  AFTER  THE 

did  any  exist,  till  about  the  commencement  of  the  third 
century. 

From  an  inspection  of  the  ecclesiastical  writers  of 
those  times,  it  will  appear,  that  the  churches  were  grad- 
ually surrendering  their  power,  more  and  more,  to  their 
religious  teachers,  during  the  whole  of  the  second  cen- 
tury ;  and  that  those  teachers  felt,  more  and  more,  their 
elevation  above  the  people,  and  their  independence  of 
all  human  responsibilities.  Yet  it  was  not  till  the  be- 
giiming  of  the  third  century,  that  these  teachers  claimed 
to  be  a  proper  Clergy,  a  holy  order  of  men  divinely  ap- 
pointed to  guide  and  govern  the  churches,  and  traced 
their  official  powers  to  their  regular  ordination.  Nor  till 
then,  did  they  hold  themselves  to  be  Highpriests,  Priests, 
and  Levites  in  the  Christian  church,  to  whom  belonged 
by  divine  right  the  various  prerogatives  of  the  Levitical 
priesthood.  And  it  was  not  tUl  far  into  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, that  the  prelatical  hierarchy  attained  full  maturity. 
The  Papal  hierarchy,  which  succeeded  the  Episcopal, 
is  generally  supposed  by  Protestants  to  have  com- 
menced sometime  in  the  seventh  century,  and  to  have 
attained  its  complete  development  about  the  twelfth 
centmy. 

That  the  ecclesiastical  polity  first  became  a  hierarchy 
about  the  year  200,  may  be  inferred  from  the  following 
historical  facts : 

1.  Anterior  to  that  period,  the  Fathers  never  use  the 
terms  Clergy  and  Clergymen,  Laity  and  Laymen,  as 
designating  different  classes  of  men  in  the  church  ;  nor 
do  they  anywhere  describe  the  thing  intended  by  these 
terms,  under  other  and  equivalent  expressions.     On  the 


APOSTOLIC  AGE.  65 

Contrary,  TertuUian,  Origen,  Cyprian,  and  all  the  Fath- 
ers after  A.  D.  200,  often  speak  of  a  high  and  privileged 
order  of  men  in  the  church,  whom  they  not  only  call 
Bishops,  Presbyters,  Deacons,  &c.,  but  also  denominate 
the  Clergy  or  Clergymen,  (in  Greek,  KXiipos  and  K\r]pi- 
Koi,  in  Latin,  Clerus  and  Clerici.)  in  distinction  from 
common  Christians,  whom  they  style  Laymen  and  the 
Laity,  (in  Greek,  XaiVcdt  and  Xadj,  in  Latin,  Laid  and 
Plebs.)  Joseph  Bingham  (in  his  Antiqq.,  Eccles.  B.  I, 
ch.  5)  attempts,  indeed,  to  prove,  (against  Nic.  Rigal- 
tius,  CI.  Salmasius,  and  Jo.  Selden,)  that  the  distinction 
between  Clergymen  and  Lapnen  existed  from  the  very 
first  institution  of  chm-ches.  But  his  proof  is  a  complete 
failure.  He  is  able  to  find  the  term  Laymen  once  only, 
in  the  early  Fathers  ;  namely,  in  Clemens,  Rom.  I,  Ep. 
ch.  40,  where  it  refers  exclusively  to  the  Levitical  insti- 
tutions, and  of  course  is  nothing  to  his  purpose.  And 
the  word  Clergy  he  also  finds  once,  in  a  passage  of 
Clemens  Alex.  (Quis  dives  salvetur,)  where  it  certainly 
does  refer  to  Christian  ministers.  But  that  work  of  Cle- 
ment was  undoubtedly  written  after  the  year  200,  be- 
ing a  later  work  than  his  Stromata,  which  were  com- 
posed some  time  in  the  reign  of  Severus. 

2.  The  Fathers  prior  to  Tertullian  seldom  speak  of 
the  ordination  of  church  officers,  and  never  in  terras 
showing  that  much  importance  was  attached  to  it. 
They  never  call  it  a  consecration  ;  nor  do  they  intimate 
that  it  conveys  official  power  and  rank  in  the  church. 
On  the  contrary,  TertuUian,  Origen,  Cyprian,  &-c., 
speak  of  ordination  as  a  most  important  thing,  and  as 
being  that  which  makes  a  man  a  Clergymen,  or  raises 
him  from  one  order  among  the  Clergy  to  another.  Ter- 
6* 


66  THE  CHURCHES  AFTER  THE 

tullian,  moreover,  (de  Praescript,  c  41,)  charges  it  upon 
the  Heretics,  that  they  allowed  their  church  officers  to 
take  up  and  lay  down  their  offices,  according  to  their 
convenience ;  thus  disregarding  the  sanctity  of  ordina- 
tion. Jerome  brings  the  same  charge  against  them. 
How  little  importance,  on  the  other  hand,  Clemens  Al- 
exandrinus  attached  to  ordination,  appears  from  his  pla- 
cing every  private  Christian  of  enlarged  knowledge  and 
exemplary  life,  though  not  ordained,  upon  a  par  with 
Presbyters  in  the  church.  (Strom,  vi.  p.  793,  al.  667.) 
Having  stated  that  Matthias  was  elected  to  succeed  Judas 
in  the  Apostleship,  because  he  was  found  worthy,  Cle- 
ment goes  on  to  say :  "  It  is  therefore  lawful,  now,  to 
em*oll  in  the  company  of  Apostles  those  who  are  well 
versed  in  the  commands  of  the  Lord,  and  live  perfectly 
and  intelligently  according  to  the  Gospel.  A  man  is  in 
reality  a  Presbyter  of  the  church,  and  a  true  Minister 
of  the  kingdom  of  God,  if  he  do  and  teach  the  things  of 
the  Lord,  even  though  not  ordained  (xiipoTovyjjisvoi, 
elected,  appointed)  by  men  :  nor  because  he  is  [official- 
ly] a  Presbyter,  is  he  accounted  a  righteous  man,  but 
because  he  is  righteous,  he  is  em-olled  a  Presbyter ;  and, 
although  here  on  earth  he  may  not  be  honored  with  the 
highest  seat,  he  wUl  sit  on  the  four  and  twenty  tlirones 
judging  the  people  :  as  John  speaks  in  the  Apocalypse." 
3.  Not  one  of  the  Fathers,  before  TcrtuUian,  ever 
calls  the  Bishops  and  Presbyters,  Priests,  or  the  Dea- 
cons, Levites ;  except  in  the  sense  in  which  all  Christ- 
ians are  Priests,  agreeably  to  1  Peter  ii.  9.  (Ye  are  a 
chosen  generation,  a  royal  priesthood,  &c.)  See  Justin 
Martyr,  Dial.  p.  344,  ed.  1636:  Irenajus,  Haer.  iv.  c. 
20:  Clemens  Alex.  Strom,  iv.  p.  635,  al.  ^1.    They 


APOSTOLIC  AGE. 


67 


never  represent  the  Ministers  of  the  New  Testament  as 
holding  the  same  relation  to  the  Christian  Church,  as 
the  Levitical  priests  held  to  the  Jewish  Church.  They 
do  not  claim  for  the  former  the  prerogatives,  powers,  and 
immunities  of  the  Jewish  priesthood  ;  nor  do  they  apply 
the  Levitical  laws  to  Christian  Ministers,  as  if  they 
were  obligatory  in  regard  to  them.  But  Tertullian  and 
the  Fathers  that  succeeded  him,  do  all  these  tilings. 
Thus  Tertullian  (de  Bapt.  c.  17)  says:  Jus  habit  sum- 
mus  Sacerdos,  qui  est  Episcopus.  And  in  Cvprian,  the 
words  Sacerdos  and  Sacerdotiwn  are  of  perpetual  oc- 
currence, applied  to  Bishops  and  Presbyters,  and  to 
their  official  duties. .  And  Jerome  (contra  Lucifer.  To- 
II.  p.  145)  says :  Ecclesia  non  est,  quae  non  habit  sa- 
cerdotes.  He  also  (Ep.  27)  calls  the  Deacons  Levites. 
The  application  of  the  Levitical  law  to  the  Christian 
ministry,  as  defining  its  powers  and  prerogatives,  may 
be  seen  everywhere  in  Cyprian :  e.  g.  Epp.,  55,  and 
64,  and  66,  and  68,  and  76,  &c. 

Q.  67.  What  were  the  inferior  orders  of  the 
Clergy,  and  when  were  they  introduced  ? 

A.  They  were  those  below  the  order  of  Dea- 
cons ;  namely,  Sub-deacons,  Acolythists,  Exor- 
cists, Lectors,  Janitors,  &c.  The  earliest 
mention  of  these  orders  is,  by  Cyprian  and  his 
contemporary,  Cornelius  of  Rome,  about  the 
middle  of  the  third  century.  See  Cyprian,  Epp. 
viii.,  XX.,  xxix.,  xxxiv.,  xxxv.,  xlv.,  Ixxviii., 
Ixxix.,  ed.  Potter  ;  Cornelius,  Ep.  apud  Euseb. 


68  THE  CHURCHES  AFTER  THE 

H.  E.  Lib.  vi.  c.  43  :  and  Bingham.  Antiqq., 
Eccl.  B.  III. 

The  idea  prevailed,  especially  in  the  Western 
churches,  that  as  the  church  of  Jerusalem  chose  only 
■seven  Deacons,  (Acts  vi.  3,  5,)  there  should  be  no  more 
than  seven  in  any  one  church.  Hence,  when  the 
churches  in  the  larger  cities  became  very  numerous  and 
were  divided  into  several  congregations,  seven  Deacons 
were  found  inadequate  to  the  discharge  of  all  their  du- 
ties, and  assistants  were  assigned  them.  This  is  sup- 
posed to  be  the  origin  of  the  inferior  orders,  who  in  fact 
performed  the  humbler  duties  of  tlje  Diaconate.  They 
appear  first  in  the  large  chm-ches,  (e.  g.  Rome,  Carthage, 
&c. ;)  and,  it  is  said,  were  wanting  in  some  of  the  small- 
er churches  as  late  as  the  fourth,  and  even  the  fifth 
century.  Nor  were  these  orders  the  same  in  all  churches. 
Some  had  more  than  jive  orders,  and  others  less :  their 
titles  and  duties,  also,  varied.  These  orders,  we  are 
told,  were  a  sort  of  school,  in  which  young  men  were 
trained  for  the  higher  orders.  They  undoubtedly  served 
to  increase  the  pomp  of  worship,  to  elevate  the  dignity 
of  the  higher  orders,  and  to  gratify  the  aspirings  of  am- 
bitious laymen,  who  wished  to  participate  in  the  honors 
and  emoluments  of  the  Clergy.  As  early  as  the  latter 
part  of  the  fourth  century,  some  of  them  at  least  were 
ordained,  though  without  imposition  of  hands,  and 
could  not  afterwards  return  to  the  rank  of  Laymen. 

Q.  68.  What  was  the  origin  of  Archbishops 
or  Metropolitans,  and  of  Primates  and  Pa- 
triarchs ? 


APOSTOLIC  AGE.  69 

A.  Metropolitans  originated  from  the  estab- 
lishment of  Provincial  Synods  or  Councils, 
about  the  beginning  of  the  third  century. — 
Primates  and  Patriarchs  were  first  established 
in  the  fourth  century,  under  the  Christian 
Emperors. 

The  first  church  founded  in  any  country  or  province, 
would  naturally  be  established  in  its  metropohs.  And 
hence  the  Metropohtan  churches  were  generaUy  the  oldest, 
the  largest,  the  most  wealthy,  and  composed  of  the  best 
informed  Christians,  in  their  respective  countries.  And 
the  pastors  of  these  churches  would  of  course  be  distin- 
guished men,  and  would  be  treated  with  deference  by  the 
ministers  of  the  yoimger  and  smaller  churches  of  their 
provinces.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  second  centiiry, 
ecclesiastical  councils  began  to  be  held  for  the  settling 
of  difficult  questions.  (See  Euseb.  H.  E.  Lib.  v.  c.  16 
and  23-25.)  Most  of  these  councils  assembled  at  the 
request  of  the  pastors  or  bishops  of  MetropoUtan  chm-ches, 
who  took  a  leading  part  in  the  debates,  and  generaUy 
drew  up  the  results  and  published  them  to  the  world. 
Near  the  close  of  the  second  century,  or  early  in  the 
third,  annual  or  semi-annual  provincial  councils  were 
also  established  over  the  greater  part  of  the  Roman 
empire.  (See  Mosheim,  Cent.  II,  P.  II,  ch.  II,  §  2,  ed. 
Murdock,  vol.  i,  p.  16,  n.  (2).)  And  in  these  provincial 
councils,  (except  in  five  out  of  six  provinces  of  AMca, 
in  which  the  senior  bishop  always  presided,)  the  Bishop 
of  the  Metropolitan  church  was  the  standing  Moderator, 
with  power  to  call  special  meetings.     He  also  kept  the 


70  THE   CHURCHES  AFTER  THE 

records  of  the  Council,  as  well  as  the  documents  of  the 
ordination  of  all  Bishops.  His  powers,  at  that  period, 
seem  to  have  been  very  similar  to  those  of  the  Mode- 
rators of  Presbyteries  among  the  Scotch  and  American 
Presbyterians,  or  those  of  the  Moderators  of  Consocia- 
tions in  some  parts  of  New  England.  Such  were  the 
MetropoUtans  of  the  third  century.  Afterwards  their 
powers  were  much  enlarged  ;  for  they  had  jurisdiction 
over  their  suffragan  Bishops,  and  appellate  jurisdiction 
in  all  ecclesiastical  causes  in  their  respective  provinces. 
In  the  fourth  century,  when  Christianity  became  the 
estabUshed  religion  of  the  Roman  empire,  the  govern- 
ment of  the  churches  was  regulated  very  much  after  the 
form  of  the  civil  government.  (See  Mosheim,  Cent.  IV, 
P.  II,  ch.  II,  §  3,  vol.  i,  p.  232,  n.  (2).)  Subsequently, 
the  great  Patriarchs  of  Rome,  Constantinople,  Antioch, 
Jerusalem,  and  Alexandria,  who  had  before  been  the 
most  prominent  MetropoUtans,  were  clothed  with  eccle- 
siastical authority  over  their  patriarchates ;  and  the 
Exarchs  or  Primates  of  certain  coimtries  took  rank  and 
received  power,  above  those  of  simple  Metropolitans, 
but  inferior  to  that  of  the  Patriarchs. 

Q.  69.  When  and  how  was  the  original 
independence  of  local  churches  subverted  ? 

A.  The  independence  of  single  churches 
was  undermined  and  subverted  in  the  third  and 
fourth  centuries,  by  the  introduction  of  eccle- 
siastical councils  with  legislative  and  judicial 
powers. 

If — as  wc  liavc  stated — the  Christians  in  each  city  or 


APOSTOLIC  AGE.  71 

town,  however  numerous  they  might  become,  always 
remedned  but  one  community  or  church,  and,  although 
obhged  to  meet  in  separate  bodies  for  ordinary  worship, 
always  assembled  as  one  body  for  the  transaction  of 
business,  and  had  one  set  of  church  officers,  with  a  chief 
Pastor  or  Bishop,  to  superintend  their  affairs;  and  if 
these  complex  bodies,  duriiig  the  second  and  third  cen- 
turies, gradually  surrendered  their  powers  of  self-govern- 
ment, and  submitted  to  be  ruled  entirely  by  their  Minis- 
ters, who  claimed  to  be  a  proper  Clergy  by  divine  right ; 
then  there  could  no  longer  be  any  independence  of 
churches,  except  the  independence  of  these  complex 
bodies  of  each  other.  And  this  independence,  which 
seems  to  have  been  complete  during  the  greater  part  of 
the  second  century,  was  afterwards  gradually  subverted 
by  the  estabhshment  of  Provincial  and  General  Coimcils, 
with  power  to  fi-ame  ecclesiastical  Canons,  binding  upon 
all  the  bodies  under  their  jurisdiction.  For  these  Canons 
were  multipUed  and  extended,  from  time  to  time,  till 
they  reached  every  part  of  both  discipline  and  worsliip  ; 
and,  by  instituting  the  right  of  appeal  in  all  cases,  from 
single  churches  to  higher  tribunals,  they  made  even  the 
Bishops  Httle  more  than  the  executive  officers  of  the 
statutes  enacted  for  them  by  a  supposed  higher  au- 
thority. 

Q.  70.  What  was  tlie  origin  of  liturgies  or 
written  forms  of  worship  among  Christians  ? 

A.  For  three  centuries,  written  formulas  of 
worship  were  unknown  among  Christians.  But 
after  the  full  establishment  of  the  Episcopal 


72  THE  CHURCHES  AFTER  THE 

hierarchy,  in  the  reign  of  Constantine,  and  the 
erection  of  splendid  churches,  with  large  rev- 
enues, in  order  to  render  the  public  worship 
more  imposing,  and  to  secure  greater  uniformity 
and  a  more  perfect  conformity  to  the  mandates 
of  the  Bishops,  some  of  the  prelates  drew  up 
forms  of  prayer  and  ceremonials  of  worship, 
in  accordance  with  what  they  considered  the 
best  models,  and  imposed  them  on  their  own 
dioceses,  and  recommended  them  to  others. 
How  many  such  liturgical  works  were  orig- 
inally drawn  up,  and  by  whom,  cannot  now  be 
ascertained.  We  only  know  that  they  orig- 
inated in  this  age,  that  they  were  soon  brought 
into  general  use,  and  that  although  each  bishop 
had  the  right  to  prescribe  forms  of  worship  in 
his  own  diocese,  yet  each  grand  division  of 
the  empire  had  very  much  the  same  liturgy. 
The  canon  of  the  Mass  or  the  proper  com- 
munion service,  was  indeed  nearly  the  same 
in  all  countries ;  while  the  Missa  Catechume- 
norum,  or  the  prayers  and  offices  which  pre- 
ceded the  Mass,  were  widely  different. 

Most  of  the  earlier  liturgies  bore  the  names  of  certain 
Apostles,  who,  it  was  supposed,  cstabUshed  those  par- 
ticular forms  of  worship,  in  the  countries  where  they 
labored,  wliich  wore  handed  down  orally  till  the  fourth 


APOSTOLIC  AGE.  73 

century,   and  then   were   committed   to  writing.     The 
first  written  liturgy  of  Palestine  and  Syria,  was  called 
the  Liturgy  of  St.  James,  who  was  accounted  the  first 
Bishop  of  Jerusalem.     The  Utiu-gy   of  Egypt  and  the 
adjacent  countries,  was  named  after  St.  Mark,  the  re- 
puted first  Bishop  of  Alexandria.     The  old  Liturgy  of 
Italy  and  Rome,  was  ascribed  to  St.  Peter,  who,  it  was 
supposed,  presided  over  the  Romish  See.     Some  also  teU 
us  of  a  Liturgy  of  the  Apostle  John,  which  was  origi- 
nally used  at  Ephesus,  and  was  thence  carried  to  the 
Grecian  colonies  at  Marseilles,  Lyons,  and  Vierme,  from 
whence  it  was  propagated  over  Gaul,  Britain,  and  perhaps 
Spain.     But  the  Liturgy  which  prevailed  in  Asia  Minor, 
Constantinople,  and  Greece,  in  the  fifth  and  following 
centuries,  was  the  Liturgy  of  St.  James,  which  is  said  to 
have  been  revised  and  improved  by  Basil  of  Cappadocia, 
and  by  Chrysostom.     This   same  oriental  Liturgy,  in 
some  or  other  of  its  recensions,  is  the  basis  of  the  modem 
Russian,  the  Melchite  and  Jacobite  Greek,  the  Armenian 
and  Nestorian  Liturgies,  and  of  one  fonn  of  the  Coptic. 
The  Romish  Liturgy,  or  that  of  St.  Peter,  -was  revised  in 
the  fifth  century  by  Leo  the  Great,  f^d  in  the  sixth  by 
Gelasius  and  Gregory  the  Great,  the  latter  of  whom  in- 
troduced the  Gregorian  or  plain  chant.     The  succeeding 
Roman  pontiffs  enlarged  and  modified  it,  frOm  time  to 
time,  and  made  gieat  eflforts  to  extend  its  use  over  all 
the  countries  subject  to  the  papal  authority ;  and  from 
about  the  eighth  or  ninth  century,  quite  down  to  the 
Reformation,  scarcely  any  other  was  used  throughout 
papal  Europe.     The  Liturgy  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  in  Great  Britain  and  America,  is  based  on  this 
Romish   Liturgy,   but  with  very  great  alterations   and 
7 


74  THE  CHURCHES  AFTER  THE 

improvements,  derived  in  part  from  the  ancient  Litur- 
gies, and  in  part  from  the  hicubrations  of  the  Reformers. 

There  is  another  ancient  Liturgy,  in  the  eighth  book  of 
the  spurious  work  called  the  Apostolic  Constitutions, 
falsely  ascribed  to  Clemens  Romanus.  But  there  is  no 
reason  to  believe  that  it  was  ever  adopted  and  used  by 
any  church  whatever.  It  is  therefore  of  no  importance 
to  our  inquiries,  except  as  casting  some  light  on  the  ori- 
gin of  written  Liturgies.  It  is  agreed  among  the  learned, 
that  this  is  one  of  the  earliest,  and  perhaps  the  earHest 
written  Liturgy  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge.  It 
bears  the  marks  of  an  Arian  hand,  and  is  supposed  to 
have  been  produced  some  time  in  the  fom'th  centuiy  ; — 
some  think  it  may  have  been  written  near  the  end  of  the 
third  century. 

The  ablest  writers  on  Liturgies,  both  in  the  Romish 
Church  and  in  the  EngHsh  Episcopal,  have  long  been 
agreed,  that  the  so  called  ApostoUc  Liturgies  are  not 
genuine,  that  neither  the  Apostles  nor  their  assistants 
furnished  the  churches  with  written  formulas  of  worship, 
and  that  written  Liturgies  were  not  known  in  the 
Christian  church,  ^till  some  time  in  the  fourth  century. 
The  proofs  they  allege,  are  :  (1.)  That  if  the  Apostles  or 
EvangeUsts  had  supplied  the  churches  with  written 
Liturgies,  those  Liturgies  would  have  been  added  to  the 
canon  of  Holy  Scripture,  would  have  been  preserved  as 
carefully  and  with  as  little  alteration  as  the  Gospels  or 
Epistles,  and  would  have  been  as  often  cited  and  re- 
ferred to  in  the  contests  with  heretics  and  schismatics. 
(2.)  That,  if  the  churches  had  possessed  and  used  such 
Liturgies  for  300  years,  it  is  utterly  unaccountable  that 
no  ecclesiastical  writer  should  either  mention,  cite,  or 


APOSTOLIC  AGE,  75 

even  allude  to  them,  during  that  long  period.  (3.)  That 
Basil  the  Great,  about  the  year  374,  (de  Spiritu  Sanc- 
to,  c.  27.  0pp.  T.  Ill,  p.  53,  ed.  Bened.)  expressly  de- 
clares, that  no  one  of  the  holy  men,  up  to  his  time,  had 
set  forth  any  written  formulas  of  prayer  to  be  used  in 
the  celebration  of  the  Eucharist :  to.  ttJs  £n-t*cX^o-£wj  'pfifia- 

ra, Tig    rwi/    ayiojv    eyypdcpcjjg    ^/^rv    KaraXeXoincv. 

These  arguments  are  deemed  perfectly  conclusive 
against  written  Liturgies,  anterior  to  the  fourth  cen- 
tury. 

But,  say  the  Romanists  and  the  English  Episcopa- 
lians, it  is  incredible  that  the  Apostles  should  have  giv- 
en no  directions  for  pubHc  worship  and  for  the  adminis- 
tration of  sacraments  ;  or  that  the  churches,  for  three 
centuries,  could  have  maintained  decorous  worship,  and 
a  due  administration  of  Christian  ordinances,  without 
Liturgies  of  some  sort.  We  must  therefore  suppose,  that 
they  had  formal  Liturgies,  which  were  handed  down 
orally,  till  the  fourth  century,  and  then  were  committed 
to  writing.  And  they  did  not  write  them  so  long  as 
they  were  surrounded  with  Pagans,  because  they 
wished  to  conceal  the  mysteries  of  Christian  worship 
from  the  knowledge  of  Pagans  and  Catechumens.  The 
disagreements  among  the  first  written  Liturgies,  are  also 
proof  that  they  had  come  down  through  an  imperfect 
medium  of  transmission,  like  that  of  oral  tradition. 

To  these  arguments  it  may  be  replied,  That  the  Apos- 
tles did  give  ample  directions  for  pubhc  worship,  and 
for  the  administration  of  ordinances.  Paul  devoted  to 
this  subject  tliree  entire  chapters  in  his  first  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians,  chapp.  xi.,  xii.  and  xiv.  But  these  direc- 
tions were  widely  different  from  the  complicated  rites 


76  THE   CHURCHES  AFTER  THE 

which  make  up  the  canon  of  the  Mass  and  the  other 
offices  in  the  oldest  written  Liturgies.  They  described 
and  recommended  a  mode  of  worship  so  simple  and  un- 
ceremonious, that  the  first  Christians  no  more  needed 
written  formulas  to  guide  them,  than  those  churches  now 
do,  which,  in  obedience  to  the  same  directions,  at  this 
day,  worship  without  a  Liturgy.  The  supposition  that  the 
Apostles  and  early  Christians  refrained  fi-om  using  writ- 
ten Liturgies,  lest  the  mysteries  of  their  worship  should 
become  known  to  Pagans  and  Catechumens,  is  confu- 
ted by  facts.  Both  Catechumens  and  Pagans,  during 
this  whole  period,  were  allowed  and  encouraged  to  at- 
tend the  entire  worship  of  Christians,  except  the  Eu- 
charist and  Baptisms.  The  whole  antecommunion  ser- 
vice, therefore,  or  the  Missa  Catechumenorum,  could 
not  have  been  left  unwritten  for  the  reason  supposed. 
And  as  to  the  communion  service,  Paul  gives  a  pretty 
full  account  of  it ;  and  Justin  Martyr,  in  the  middle  of 
the  second  century,  had  no  scruples  in  publishing  a  mi- 
nute description  of  it,  in  his  larger  Apology,  addressed 
to  a  Pagan  Emperor.  (Apol.  I,  p.  97,  98,  ed.  Paris, 
1636.)  If  therefore  any  such  concealment  was  ever 
practised,  it  must  have  been  after  the  times  of  Justin 
Martyr,  and  have  extended  only  to  the  Eucharistial  and 
Baptismal  services.  (See  Coleman's  Chr.  Antiqq.  p.  35, 
36.)  Yet  the  Missa  Catechumenorum,  equally  with  the 
Missa  Fidclium,  remained  unwritten  during  this  long 
period.  The  disagreements  in  the  oldest  written  Litur- 
gies are  no  evidence  of  the  long  use  of  oral  formulas ; 
for  they  have  much  more  the  appearance  of  having 
arisen  from  essentially  different  usages  in  different  coun- 
tries, than  from  the  faulty  memories  of  those  who  were 


APOSTOLIC  AGE.  77 

accustomed  to  repeat  memoriter  one  and  the  same  Lit- 
urgy. We  will  add,  that  it  seems  morally  impossible 
that  all  the  Christian  ministers,  for  three  hundred  years, 
should  have  been  able  to  repeat,  without  book,  so  long 
and  complicated  a  service  as  the  ancient  Liturgies  pre- 
scribe ;  or  indeed,  any  Liturgy  foimded  on  the  same 
general  model.  If,  then,  the  Early  Christians  had  an 
oral  Liturgy,  which  all  the  Clergy  could  commit  to 
memory,  it  must  have  been  a  very  different  thing  from 
the  subsequent  written  Liturgies  ;  and,  of  course,  also 
from  the  Liturgies  now  used  in  the  modem  Greek,  Ro- 
mish, and  Anglican  churches. 

That  no  Liturgies  whatever,  or  no  prescribed  formu- 
las of  worship,  were  in  common  use,  in  the  Apostolic 
times,  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  they  are  nev- 
er mentioned,  or  alluded  to,  in  the  New  Testament. 
No  Evangelist  or  minister  is  there  charged  to  obey  the 
canons,  and  never  violate  the  rubric.  No  church  is 
commended  for  its  skill  and  scrupulousness,  or  censm-ed 
for  its  ignorance  and  irreverence,  in  regard  to  the  pre- 
scribed formulas  of  worship.  Cliristians  are  exhorted  to 
"  pray  without  ceasing,"  and  to  "  pray  with  all  prayer 
and  supplication,  in  the  Spirit ;"  but  are  never  directed 
to  "  say  prayers,"  or  to  repeat  the  prescribed  formvdas  of 
prayer.  Paul,  in  describing  the  requisite  qualifications 
for  a  Bishop  or  Elder,  never  mentions  a  strong  and  well 
stored  memory,  or  ability  to  repeat  the  prescribed  ser- 
vice correctly.  And  Peter,  directing  men  how  to  offi- 
ciate in  sacred  things,  says :  "  If  any  Minister,  let  him 
do  it  as  of  the  ability  which  God  giveth,"  (1  Peter  iv- 
11  ;)  i.  e.  according  to  his  best  ability — not  according  to 
a  prescribed  ritual.  If  the  Corinthian  church  had  been 
7* 


78  THE  CHURCHES,  *C. 

accustomed  to  use  the  canon  of  the  Mass,  they  would 
not  easily  have  fallen  into  such  irregularities  as  are  sta- 
ted ;  or  if  they  did,  Paul  need  not  have  written  them  a 
whole  chapter  (1  Cor.  xi.)  on  the  nature  and  the  form 
of  the  Lord's  Supper :  he  might  have  said,  simply : 
Follow  strictly  the  Liturgy,  as  I  Paul  taught  you.  So 
also,  if  their  ordinary  worship  had  been  conducted  by  a 
priest,  and  in  accordance  with  any  such  Liturgy  as  af- 
terwards prevailed,  they  would  never  have  needed  the 
instructions  which  Paul  gives  them,  respecting  spiritual 
gifts,  especially  that  of  tongues ;  1  Cor.  xii.  and  xiv. 
Nor  would  he  have  reproved  them,  and  given  them  such 
specific  rules  for  their  public  worship,  as  he  does  in  1 
Cor.  xiv.  26-40.  Indeed,  it  seems  manifest,  from  the 
passage  referred  to,  that  all  Christians,  in  that  age, 
might  speak  and  pray  in  the  public  assemblies  ;  and 
that  all  such  performances  Avere  extemporaneous :  they 
who  then  ministered,  did  so,  literally  and  truly,  as  of  the 
abiUty  which  God  gave  them.  (1  Peter  iv.  11.)  And 
the  same  mode  of  worship  continued  in  the  churches 
down  to  the  times  of  Justin  Martyr  ;  for  he  tells  us,  that 
the  president  of  the  assembled  people  then  prayed 
(bar]  Svvaixis)  according  to  his  ability.  (Apol.  I,  p.  98, 
ed.  Paris,  1636.) 


CHAPTER  V. 

CONSTITUTIOX  OF  THE  CONGREGATIONAL 
CHURCHES. 

Q.  71.  Are  any  modern  churclies  modeled 
exactly  after  the  primitive  pattern  1 

A.  No.  But  the  polity  of  the  Congrega- 
tional churches  corresponds  in  its  general  fea- 
tures with  that  of  the  Apostolic  churches. 

Q.  72.  What  is  the  Congregational  system 
of  church  polity  ? 

A.  It  is  that  system  of  church  order  and 
discipline  which  was  established  in  New 
England  by  the  first  English  Colonists,  and  is 
now  maintained  by  the  great  body  of  their  de- 
scendants. 

The  Congregational  system  of  church  government  is 
also  adopted  by  the  churches  of  the  Congregational  Un- 
ion of  England  and  Wales,  by  the  French  Evangelical 
churches  generally,  by  the  Baptist  churches  in  Great 
Britain  and  America,  and  by  many  churches  called  In- 


80  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE 

dependent  or   Congregational  in   various  parts  of  the 
British  Empire  and  of  the  United  States. 

Q.  73.  What  was  the  origin  of  the  Congre- 
gational churches  of  this  country  ? 

A.  The  Congregational  churches  of  New 
England  were  founded  by  certain  ministers 
and  Christians  of  Great  Britain,  who,  in  the 
early  part  of  the  17th  century,  were  driven  by 
religious  persecution  to  seek  an  asylum  in  this 
newly-discovered  country. 

Q.  74.  Was  there  any  thing  peculiar  in  the 
origin  of  modern  Congregationalism  to  favor 
the  presumption  that  the  system  is  nearly 
identical  with  that  of  the  primitive  churches  ? 

A.  Yes ;  the  Congregational  system  was 
entirely  framed  out  of  the  Bible  by  men  learned 
in  the  Scriptures,  who  believed  that  Christ  and 
his  Apostles  had  there  prescribed  a  complete 
ecclesiastical  system  of  absolute  authority. 

Such  men  as  John  Robinson,  John  Owen,  Thomas 
Hooker,  and  all  the  early  writers  in  favor  of  Congrega- 
tionalism, went  to  the  Bible  to  learn  how  the  church 
was  originally  constituted,  with  a  strong  sense  of  obli- 
gation to  ascertain  and  scrupulously  follow  the  primi- 
tive pattern.  This  explains  the  fact  that  the  first 
churches  of  New  England  submitted  to  the  expense 
and  inconvenience  of  maintaining  two  ministers  instead 


CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCHES.  81 

of  one — having  discovered,  as  they  supposed,  that  every 
local  church  in  primitive  times  had  both  ruling  and 
teaching  Elders.  And  this  presents  very  strong  pre- 
sumptive evidence  that  the  system  adopted  by  them  is 
closely  conformed  to  that  in  the  New  Testament.  No 
other  ecclesiastical  system  has  this  presumption  in 
its  favor.  The  oldest  systems,  as  the  diocesan  Episcopal, 
are  known  to  have  departed  widely  from  the  primitive 
pattern,  and  in  modern  times  they  have  not  been 
modified  with  a  view  to'conform  them  to  that  model. 
The  Wesleyan  Episcopal  Church  was  not  even  profess- 
edly built  on  a  careful  examination  and  copying  of  the 
Apostolic  churches. 

Q.  75.  What  are  the  sources  of  information 
respecting  the  polity  of  the  Congregational 
churches  ? 

A.  The  Platforms,  standard  authors,  and 
especially  the  practice  of  those  churches. 

Q.  76.  Have  the  Congregational  churches 
any  Platforms  or  Constitutions,  according  to 
which  they  are  bound  to  regulate  all  their  pro- 
ceedings ? 

A.  No.  Platforms  have  been  at  various 
times  drawn  up  by  Congregational  bodies  ; 
but  the  churches  of  the  present  day  do  not 
feel  bound  rigidly  to  follow  them.  They  of- 
ten refer  to  them  with  respect,  as  embody- 
ing the    wisdom  of  their  predecessors  ;    but 


82  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE 

they  are  governed  in  their  own  practice  gen- 
erally by  usage,  and  in  some  districts  by  par- 
ticular Constitutions. 

See  "  Platform  of  Church  Disciphne,  gathered  out  of 
the  Word  of  God,  and  agreed  upon  by  the  Elders  and 
Messengers  of  the  churches  assembled  in  the  Synod  at 
Cambridge,  in  New  England,  Anno.  1648:"  and  "The 
Heads  of  Agreement  assented  to  by  the  United  Minis- 
ters, formerly  called  Presbyterian  and  Congregational ; 
and  also  Articles  for  the  administration  of  church  Dis- 
cipline, unanimously  agreed  upon  by  the  Elders  and 
Messengers  of  the  churches  in  the  Colony  of  Connecti- 
cut, in  New  England,  assembled  by  delegation,  at  Say- 
brook,  Sept.  9th,  1708."  See  also  the  "  Digest  of  Rules 
and  Usages  in  the  Consociations  and  Associations  of 
Connecticut,"  contained  in  tlie  "  Congregational  Order." 

"  Mather's  Ratio  Discipline,"  and  "  Mather's  Power 
of  the  Keys,"  were  generally  referred  to  as  guides,  before 
the  adoption  of  the  Cambridge  Platform.  Several  mod- 
ern writers  have  published  treatises,  more  or  less  full,  up- 
on the  Congregational  system.  "  See  Upham's  Ratio  Dis- 
ciplina?" — "  Punchard's  View  of  Congregationalism" — 
"  Bacon's  Manual,"  and  "  Mitchell's  Guide  to  Church 
Members." 

Q.  77.  Do  Congregationalists  hold  that 
their  system  exists  by  divine  right  in  such  a 
sense  that  there  can  be  no  true  church  under 
any  other  form  ? 

A.  No.     They  generally  hold  that  devia- 


CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCHES.  83 

tions  from  the  primitive  model  are  lawful,  un- 
less they  are  contrary  to  some  plain  precept 
or  principle  of  Christianity.     See  Ques.  7. 

We  may  mention  as  examples  of  a  lawful  departure 
from  primitive  practice,  the  discontinuance  of  a  plurali- 
ty of  Elders  in  individual  chui'ches,  of  deaconesses, 
and  of  the  weekly  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  ; 
and  as  examples  of  the  opposite  character,  the  neglect 
of  Christian  ordinances  by  the  Friends,  and  the  usurpa- 
tion of  church  power,  not  properly  belonging  to  them, 
by  the  clergy  of  most  sects.  This  latter  class  of  devia- 
tions from  the  primitive  model,  Congregationalists  look 
upon  as  serious  irregularities,  but  do  not  suppose  them 
to  be  incompatible  with  the  being  of  a  church.  They 
regard  as  a  Christian  church  any  body  of  credible  be- 
lievers in  Christ,  imited  by  voluntary  confederation  for 
the  purpose  of  serving  God  in  a  church  capacity,  ac- 
cording to  their  best  understanding  cf  the  Scriptures ; 
even  if,  by  misapprehending  the  mind  of  Christ,  they  do 
not  order  every  thing  in  the  best  manner.  These  liberal 
views,  however,  should  not  make  Congregationalists  in- 
different to  the  maintenance  and  extension  of  that  sys- 
tem of  church  order  and  discipline  which  complies  with 
all  the  laws  of  Christ's  house.     See  Ques.  11. 

Q.  78.  What  distinguishing  points  of  cor- 
respondence between  Congregationalism  and 
the  primitive  system  of  church  order  and  dis- 
cipline, can  you  mention  ? 

A.  According  to  Congregationalism,  a  reg- 


84  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE 

ular  Christian  church  is  a  voluntary  associa- 
tion of  professed  believers  in  Jesus  Christ, 
united  together  for  the  social  vrorship  of  God, 
and  for  the  administration  of  religious  ordi- 
nances.    See  Ques.  2,  14,  23,  28. 

Q.  79.  In  what  sense  is  a  Congregational 
church  a  voluntary  association  ? 

A.  A  Congregational  church  is  not  a  volun- 
tary association  in  the  sense  of  being  a  mere 
human  institution,  with  which  believers  in 
Christ  are  under  no  kind  of  obligation  to  con- 
nect themselves.  All  Christians,  or  regener- 
ate persons,  are  justly  expected  to  confess 
Christ  before  men,  by  becoming  members  of 
some  branch  of  his  visible  church.  But  the 
association  is  voluntary  in  this  respect,  that  it 
was  formed  by  a  free  act  of  confederation  on 
the  part  of  individuals,  and  not  by  the  author- 
ity of  any  court,  civil  or  ecclesiastical.  See 
Cambridge  Platform,  ch.  iv,  sec.  6. 

Q.  80.  Does  Congregationalism  recognize 
the  right  of  any  number  of  persons  of  suitable 
qualifications  to  organize  themselves  into  a 
Christian  church  1 

A.  The  right  is  unquestionable  ;  but  the 
expediency  of  the  step  depends  on  the  ques- 
tion, whether  the  organization  of  those  indi- 


CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCHES.  85 

viduals  into  a  church  is  desirable  for  their  per- 
sonal edification,  and  the  glory  of  God.  But 
Congregationalists  invariably  recognize  a  body 
of  believers  in  Christ,  voluntarily  united  by 
covenant  in  a  church  capacity  as  a  true 
church. 

Q.  81.  Must  a  Congregational  church  have 
officers  ? 

A.  A  Congregational  church  may  exist  or 
have  essential  being  without  officers  ;  but  can- 
not be  complete  in  Jorm,  or  fully  organized 
without  them.     See  Ques.  8,  15. 

Q.  82.  What  are  the  powers  of  a  Congrega- 
tional church  ? 

A.  A  Concrreffational  church  is  a  demo- 
cracy.  All  the  members  are  equal,  and  all  its 
affairs  are  definitively  determined  by  a  major 
vote  of  the  brotherhood.  They  elect  their 
own  officers,  admit,  govern,  and  expel  their 
own  members,  and  do  all  other  things  which, 
according  to  the  laws  of  Christ,  may  of  right 
be  done  in  and  over  his  church. 

Q.  83.  Is  a  Congregational  church  an  inde- 
pendent body  1 

A.  A  Congregational  church  is  independent, 
because  no  other  church  or  ecclesiastical 
body  has  power  to  reverse  its  decisions.  It 
8 


86  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE 

has  no  other  head  than  Jesus  Christ,  and  is 
subject  to  his  authority  alone.  Hence,  in 
Great  Britain,  the  churches  embraced  in  the 
Congregational  Union  of  England  and  Wales, 
are  commonly  called  independent  churches. 

A  Congregational  church,  however,  is  sub- 
ject to  the  admonition  of  sister  churches  for 
heresy,  lax  discipline,  or  any  scandalous  of- 
fense, and  if  incorrigible,  to  a  withdrawal  of 
church  fellowship.  See  Upham's  Ratio  Dis- 
ciplinae,  Ch.  II,  sec.  20. 

Q.  84.  What  qualification  is  required  for 
membership  in  a  Congregational  church  ? 

A.  Credible  piety.  See  Cambridge  Plat- 
form, Ch.  Ill,  sees.  1,  2. 

Q.  85.  By  what  process  is  a  Congregational 
church  formed  ? 

A.  Whenever  several  persons,  after  taking 
the  private  advice  of  some  neighboring  minis- 
ters and  Christians,  desire  to  be  formed  into  a 
church,  they  invite  a  number  of  ministers,  or 
a  council,  to  assemble  and  aid  them  in  their 
organization.  The  council  thus  assembled 
inspect  the  proceedings  of  those  who  have 
called  them  together  ;  and  being  satisfied  that 
it  is  right  and  suitable  to  proceed,  the  council 
lead  them  to  combine  themselves  by  solemn 


CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCHES.  87 

VOWS  into  a  church — accompanied  by  appro- 
priate religious  services  and  ceremonies.  See 
Upham's  Ratio  Disciplinae,  Ch.  III. 

Q.  86.  What  are  the  officers  of  a  Congre- 
^gational  church  ? 

A.  The  officers  of  a  Congregational  church 
are  of  two  orders  only — Elders  and  Deacons. 
The  Elder  or  minister  is  the  preacher  or  public 
teacher  of  the  people,  and  the  Chief  Execu- 
tive officer  or  ruler  of  the  church.  The  Dea- 
con or  Deacons,  for  there  may  be  two  or  more, 
have  charge  of  the  temporalities  of  the  church 
and  the  care  of  the  poor,  and  they  assist  the 
minister  in  administering  the  ordinances  of  the 
Gospel.     See  Bacon's  Manual. 

Q.  87.  Are  Congregational  ministers  known 
by  any  other  titles  1 

A.  Yes.  They  are  called  the  pastors  and 
bishops  of  their  respective  churches.  See 
Ques.  44. 

Q.  88.  In  what  manner  are  men  raised  to 
the  pastoral  office  in  Congregational  churches  ? 

A.  By  the  free  election  of  the  brethren,  and 
a  solemn  induction  into  office. 

The  brethren  of  the  church  having  first  fixed  their 
eyes  upon  a  candidate  for  the  pastoral  office  over  tlieni, 
and  sought  the  divine  guidance  in  a  matter  of  so  great 


88  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE 

importance,  by  fasting  and  prayer,  make  the  election — 
and  if  the  ecclesiastical  society  concurs  in  their  choice, 
and  the  pastor  elect  accepts  the  appointment,  a  council 
of  neighboring  churches  is  called,  by  whose  aid  he  is 
ordained  or  solemnly  inducted  into  ofRce.  See  Upham's 
Ratio  Disciplinee,  Ch.  III. 

Q.  89.  May  a  church  elect  any  person 
whom  it  deems  of  suitable  character,  learning, 
and  talents,  to  the  pastoral  office  over  them  ? 

A.  A  church  has  this  right  inherently,  but 
by  tacit  consent,  for  the  sake  of  guarding 
against  an  incompetent  ministry,  the  churches 
do  not  elect  any  to  the  pastoral  office,  or  hear 
any  preach  as  candidates,  except  such  as  have 
been  first  approved  and  licensed  to  preach  by 
some  Association  of  ministers  or  pastors, 
connected  with  the  churches  in  their  commun- 
ion. The  Baptist  churches,  which  are  Con- 
gregational, do  not,  we  believe,  take  this  pre- 
caution, but  receive  preachers  as  candidates 
for  the  ministry  on  the  recommendation  of  the 
churches  to  which  they  belong.  See  Say- 
brook  Platform,  Part  II,  sec.  VII.  New 
Englander,  Vol.  II,  Art.  Baptist  Polity. 

Q.  90.  May  a  person  be  constituted  a  min- 
ister of  the  Gospel  without  being  elected  to 
the  pastoral  office  over  a  particular  church  ? 


CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCHES.  89 

A.  Yes.  For,  although  no  one  can  be  made 
the  pastor  of  a  particular  church,  without  the 
vote  of  said  church,  a  person  may  be  ordained 
to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  gather  churches  in 
destitute  places,  to  labor  as  an  evangelist 
among  feeble  churches,  or  as  a  missionary 
among  the  unevangelized.  Compare  ques- 
tions 36  and  43. 

Q.  91.  In  whom  is  the  power  of  appointing 
and  ordaining  missionaries  vested  ? 

A.  The  churches  or  missionary  associations 
which  send  them  forth,  make  the  appointment ; 
the  ordination  service  is  performed  by  coun- 
cils convened  for  the  purpose. 

Q.  92.  Is  it  agreeable  to  Congregational 
usage  for  everybody  of  ministers  of  the  Gospel 
to  ordain  others  to  the  work  of  the  Christian 
ministry  ? 

A.  No.  The  work  of  ordaining  ministers  of 
the  Gospel  is  restricted  to  standing  or  special 
councils,  composed  of  pastors  and  delegates 
of  churches,  called  together  for  the  purpose  by 
the  candidate  for  ordination,  and  by  those 
who  invite  him  to  be  their  pastor  or  missiona- 
ry. See  Upham's  Ratio  Disciplinae,  Ch.  VII, 
sec.  91  ;  Ch.  VIII,  sec.  92. 
8* 


90  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE 

Q.  93.  What  is  the  process  of  church  disci- 
pUne  in  the  Congregational  churches  ? 

A.  It  is  precisely  that  laid  down  in  Matt, 
eh.  xviii. 

In  relation  to  open,  well  known,  and  flagrant  sins, 
some  infer  a  more  summary  process  is  proper,  from  the 
course  which  they  suppose  Paul  urges  the  church  of 
Corinth  to  adopt  in  the  case  of  the  incestuous  man.  1 
Cor.  V.  ch.  And  this  is  agreeable  to  usage  in  most 
Congregational  chiurches.  Yet  it  does  not  appear  that 
Paul  censures  that  church,  solely  for  not  proceeding 
to  excommunication,  or  that  he  authorizes  them  to  take 
the  last  step,  without  taking  the  first.  He  may  per- 
haps have  known  that  the  first  steps  had  been  taken 
without  reclaiming  the  offender  ;  and  if  this  was  the 
case,  the  apostle  merely  censured  the  church  for  neg- 
lecting to  carry  out  the  process  of  discipUne  by  a  final 
act  of  excommunication.  See  Upham's  Ratio  Disci- 
pUnee,  sec.  96,  and  Bacon's  Manual,  p.  101. 

In  the  case  of  a  pastor,  the  coiu-se  of  procedure  is  not 
uniform.  In  most  consociated  churches,  a  complaint 
against  a  pastor  camiot  be  brought  except  through  the 
associated  pastors  of  the  district  to  which  the  church 
belongs,  by  whom,  if  they  see  fit,  the  complaint  is  car- 
ried before  the  consociation  for  trial  and  final  detennina- 
tion.  See  Congregational  Order,  pp.  295-98.  In 
churches,  not  consociated,  the  course  is,  for  the  church 
to  refer  the  matter  either  for  advice  or  final  determina- 
tion to  a  council  of  neighboring  churches.  See  Upham's 
Ratio  Disciplinae,  sees.  136,  37. 


CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCHES.  91 

The  simple  deposition  of  a  pastor  or  evangelist  from 
the  ministry,  does  not  dissolve  his  church  relations. 
After  his  deposition,  the  church  to  which  he  belongs 
may  proceed  against  him,  as  in  the  case  of  any  other 
member.     See  Upham,  sec.  140. 

Q.  94.  Is  there  any  appeal  in  a  case  of 
discipline  from  the  decision  of  the  church? 

A.  The  decision  is  final  unless  the  church 
consents  to  refer  the  matter  to  a  mutual  coun- 
cil for  advisement  before  the  final  decision. 

An  aggrieved  member  may,  however,  ask  for 
a  mutual  council,  and  if  that  is  denied  by  the 
church,  he  may  call  an  exparte  council  to  re- 
examine his  case,  and  to  advise  the  church  to 
recall  its  censure,  if  it  appears  to  the  council 
to  be  unjust. 

The  decision  of  a  council  is  considered  merely 
advisory ;  and  as  such  may  be  either  accepted  or 
not  accepted  by  the  church,  yet  the  moral  influence  of 
councils  is  so  great,  that  the  churches  are  seldom  known 
to  disregard  their  advice.  And  indeed  it  would  be 
thought  disrespectful  to  a  council,  and  a  breach  of  Christ- 
ian fellowship,  if  a  church  should  refuse  to  accept  its  ad- 
vice in  matters  merely  prudential.  See  Upham's  Ratio 
DiscipUnoB,  Ch.  XIV.,  sees.  182-3. 

Many  Congregational  churches,  particularly  in  Con- 
necticut, are  consociated,  as  it  is  called  ;  that  is,  they 
have  constituted  ttiemselves  into  standing  mutual  coun- 


92  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCHES. 

cils,  one  or  more  in  a  county,  consisting  of  the  several 
pastors,  with  a  lay  delegate  from  each  church.  To 
these  bodies  the  churches  represented  in  them,  have 
agreed,  in  advance,  to  submit  their  difficulties  ;  and  the 
result  or  decision  of  the  comicil  is  in  all  cases  to  be  a 
final  issue.     See  Congregational  Order,  p.  300. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CONGREGATIONALISM  PREFERABLE  TO  OTHER 
SYSTEMS  OF  CHURCH  POLITY. 

Q.  95.  What  other  Ecclesiastical  systems 
have  been  adopted  by  modern  churches  ? 

A.  The  most  important  are  the  Episcopa- 
lian and  the  Presbyterian. 

Q.  96.  Why  should  Congregationalism  be 
preferred  to  these  systems  ? 

A.  Congregationalism  deserves  this  prefer- 
ence, because  it  appears  to  be  the  only  system 
in  existence  that  complies  fully  with  the  spirit 
and  precepts  of  Christianity. 

Q.  97.  To  what  inspired  rule  or  principle 
does  Congregationalism  conform,  which  other 
systems  disregard  ? 

A.  Congrepationalism  leaves  in  the  hands  of 
the  brotherhood  the  discipline  of  the  church, 
of  which  the  other  ecclesiastical  systems  di- 
vest them. 


94  PREFERABLENESS    OF 

Q.  98.  Is  this  a  sufficient  reason  for  prefer- 
ring Congregationalism  ? 

A.  Why  is  it  not  ?  Are  we  not  commanded 
by  Christ,  if  a  brother  trespass  against  us,  to 
take  certain  steps  to  gain  him,  and  if  these  fail, 
to  "  tell  it  to  the  church'^  ?  And  have  we  then 
a  right  to  prefer  a  constitution  of  the  church 
which  refers  these  matters  to  a  very  different 
tribunal  ? 

Q.  99.  Is  this  the  only  point  in  which  Con- 
gregationalism alone  complies  with  the  rules  of 
the  Gospel  ? 

A.  No.  The  denial  by  other  sects  of  the 
fundamental  principle  of  the  primitive  church, 
that  all  ecclesiastical  power  is  vested  in  the 
hands  of  the  brotherhood  of  each  particular 
church,  or  that  such  a  society  is  a  complete 
church  in  itself,  independent  of  all  foreign  con- 
trol, carries  with  it  many  and  wide  departures 
from  the  rules  which  Christ  has  given  for  the 
right  ordering  of  His  church.  The  several  lo- 
cal churches,  for  example,  are  constituted  by 
Christ  their  own  guardians.  They  are  not 
only  to  judge  of  the  qualifications  of  all  who 
enjoy  their  communion,  to  admit  and  exclude 
persons  as  members,  but  to  see  to  the  charac- 
ter and  doctrine  of  their  teachers,  and  to  keep 


CONGREGATIONALISM.  95 

alive  a  spirit  of  piety  by  the  mutual  watch  and 
exhortations  of  the  members  :  in  one  word, 
they  are  respectively  charged  with  the  duties  of 
self-government,  of  self-culture,  and  of  self-pro- 
tection. These  important  trusts  are  taken  from 
the  churches  by  other  ecclesiastical  systems, 
wholly  or  in  part,  and  committed  to  the  hands 
of  the  clergy. 

Q.  100.  Is  not  this  an  objection  which  lies 
also  against  Congregationalism ;  that  is,  ^ 
there  not  some  rules  of  order  prescribed  by 
Christ,  to  which  this  system  does  not  conform  ? 

A.  I  have  no  knowledge  of  any  such  rule. 
Congregationalism  is  not  an  exact  copy  of  the 
primitive  church  ;  but  it  deviates  from  that  orig- 
inal form  in  none  of  those  particulars  which  are 
based  upon  the  nature  of  things,  or  upon  pre- 
cepts of  permanent  obligation. 

The  most  material  de\dations  respect  the  numher  of 
Elders  in  each  particular  church,  the  office  of  Deaconess, 
and  the  Love  Feasts  ;  but  these  regulations  were  not 
founded  in  the  nature  of  things,  or  in  any  permanent 
necessity,  nor  were  they  estabUshed  by  any  positive  en- 
actment of  Christ.  The  council  of  elders  in  each  church 
was  no  doubt  at  first  adopted  in  imitation  of  the  form  of 
government  which  existed  in  the  Jewish  synagogues. 
(Sec  Neander,  vol.  i,  p.  186,  and  Ques.  3.3.)  There  is 
no  scriptural  injunction  requiring  such  a  board  to  be 


96  PREFERABLENESS    OF 

maintained  in  the  church  :  and  as  every  object  of  church 
rule  and  edification  is  secured  as  well  or  better  by  having 
a  single  elder,  the  Congregational  practice  is  abundantly 
justified.  It  should  also  be  remembered,  that  Congrega- 
tionalism admits  of  a  plurality  of  elders.  Churches  are 
not  unfi-equently  furnished  with  two  colleague  pastors, 
and  sometimes  with  a  greater  number.  In  respect  to 
deaconesses,  as  the  office  had  its  origin  in  the  pecuhar 
customs  of  the  East,  it  is  properly  discontinued  among 
us.  Even  there  it  was  not  enjoined  on  the  churches,  but 
was  adopted  as  a  means  of  introducing  the  gospel  into 
tli^  private  apartments  of  the  women.  The  case  is  dif- 
ferent with  those  ecclesiastical  systems  which  divest  the 
church,  or  particular  congregation  of  believers  of  church 
rule.  By  doing  this,  they  take  from  the  church  the  power 
of  obeying  the  express  commands  of  Christ ;  those,  for 
instance,  relating  to  the  admission,  government,  and  ex- 
pulsion of  members.  The  investiture  of  the  church  with 
all  church  power  seems  to  be  founded  in  the  nature  of 
tilings.  For  who  can  care  for  the  church  Uke  the  church 
itself;  or  who  is  so  competent  to  manage  wisely  all  its 
aff^airs  ?  If  the  business  is  taken  from  the  brotherhood 
and  placed  in  other  hands,  it  changes  radically  for  the 
worse,  the  whole  system  of  chui'ch  government. 

Q.  101.  Is  it  evident  that  the  Congregational 
system  is  better  in  practice  than  other  systems  ? 
Although  they  may  be  less  scriptural,  is  it  clear 
that  they  are  less  adapted  to  this  age  of  the 
world  ? 

A.  There  is  certainly  a  presumption  in  favor 


CONGREGATIONALISM.  97 

of  the  scriptural  system  ;  and  the  stronger  pre- 
sumption because  it  was  democratical,  a  kind 
of  government  which  is  best  suited  to  the  most 
intelligent  communities ;  and  of  course  better 
suited  to  this  age  and  country  than  to  the  age 
of  the  apostles.  If  all  church  power  was 
vested  in  the  church  in  primitive  times,  it  is 
too  late  to  question  the  wisdom  of  continuing 
the  power  in  the  same  hands,  in  this  enlight- 
ened age. 

Q.  102.  But  is  it  not  true,  that  the  Episcopal 
and  Presbyterian  systems  of  church  polity  are 
found  in  practice  to  be  highly  conducive  to  the 
peace  and  purity  of  the  churches  under  them  ? 

A.  There  is,  I  believe,  much  sincere  piety 
and  fraternal  harmony  in  those  communions. 
The  systems  of  government  are  no  doubt  ad- 
ministered with  much  impartiality  and  wisdom. 
And  wherever  the  gospel  is  preached  in  purity, 
the  peculiar  excellence  of  Christianity  will 
shine  forth  in  the  lives  of  many  of  the  hearers. 
The  truth  is,  we  are  not  to  look  for  all  imagin- 
able evils  to  follow  a  faulty  system  of  church 
order,  any  more  than  we  are  to  suppose  that  a 
people  cannot  be  happy  and  prosperous  under 
a  monarchy.  Nevertheless,  Congregationalism 
appears  to  me  to  have  the  best  tendencies. 
9 


98  PREFERABLENESS    OF 

Q.  103.  What  good  tendencies  do  you  see  in 
Congregationalism  on  account  of  which  it  is  to 
be  preferred  to  other  ecclesiastical  systems  ? 

A.  It  seems  to  exert  a  happier  influence  on 
individual  piety,  usefulness,  and  intelligence  ;  to 
afford  the  strongest  safeguards  against  corrup- 
tion in  the  body  of  the  church,  and  to  be  more 
propitious  in  its  influence  on  civil  society  and 
the  world. 

Q.  104.  What  proof  is  there  of  the  peculiar 
tendency  of  Congregationalism  to  promote  in- 
dividual excellence  and  usefulness  ? 

A.  Congregationalism  impresses  the  minds 
of  individuals  with  a  sense  of  responsibility, 
and  calls  into  exercise  their  best  powers,  as 
judges  of  all  matters  of  doctrine  and  practice 
in  the  church. 

It  treats  the  individual  as  a  man,  capable  of  self-gov- 
ernment. By  respecting  him,  it  inspires  him  with  self- 
respect;  by  imposing  responsibilities  on  him,  it  qualifies 
him  to  bear  them.  The  adage  that  "  circumstances 
make  the  man,"  has  all  its  force  in  relation  to  him.  He 
looks,  or  at  least  is  moved  to  look  into  all  questions  of 
doctrine,  of  Christian  experience,  and  of  ecclesiastical 
order,  not  for  his  own  sake  merely,  but  that  he  may  do 
his  duty  as  one  of  the  governors  of  Christ's  church. 

Congregationalism  also  calls  forth  all  the  energies  of 
the  individual  in  the  work  of  benevolence.    As  a  mem- 


CONGREGATIONALISM.  99 

ber  of  the  church  he  considers  it  liis  dut}'  to  promote  the 
spiritual  good  of  others  to  the  extent  of  his  ability,  by  im- 
provong  his  gifts  of  prayer,  of  exhortation,  and  of  counsel. 
He  is  not  trammeled  by  fear  of  doing  something  for 
Christ  too  holy  to  be  done  by  a  layman,  but  does  as  a 
duty  whatever  good  he  is  qualified  to  do.  He  devises 
new  plans  of  usefulness,  which  he  is  in  no  way  hindered 
by  ecclesiastical  lawgivers  from  carrying  into  execution. 
He  keeps  up  wdth  the  age  in  his  knowledge  of  theological 
truth.  He  is  not  restrained  by  the  imposition  of  a  creed, 
framed  in  less  enlightened  times,  from  proving  all  things 
and  holding  fast  that  lohich  is  good,  lie  is  constantly 
inquiring,  praying,  studying  for  a  purer  faith  as  well  as  a 
purer  heart.  This  freedom  of  action,  freedom  of  inquiry, 
and  sense  of  responsibility,  it  cannot  be  denied,  distin- 
guish the  Congregational  churches.  In  the  same  degree 
in  which  other  commmiions  are  less  distinguished  by 
these  spurs  of  intellect,  and  facilities  of  individual  useful- 
ness, has  Congregationalism  the  preeminence.  (See 
Punchard's  View  of  Congi-egationaUsm,  pp.  172-175. 

Q.  105.  What  peculiar  safeguards  to  the  pu- 
rity of  the  church  does  Congregationalism 
afford  ? 

A.  The  fundamental  principle  of  Congrega- 
tionalism, that  none  but  regenerated  persons 
may  properly  be  admitted  to  membership  in 
the  church,  taken  in  connection  with  the  fact, 
that  no  person  can  be  admitted  except  by  vote 
of  the  brotherhood,  after  an  examination  by  the 


100  PREFERABLENESS    OF 

whole  church  or  a  committee  appointed  for  the 
purpose,  is  the  strongest  possible  barrier  to  the 
admission  of  unworthy  members.  When  the 
doors  of  a  church  are  vigilantly  guarded  by 
all  the  members,  it  is  a  ground  of  assurance  that 
its  spiritual  life  and  vigor  will  be  preserved. 
This  assurance  is  strengthened  by  committing 
to  the  church  the  care  and  discipline  of  the 
members.  It  is  unquestionably  true,  that  these 
duties  may  be  well  discharged  by  a  board  of 
elders  or  a  single  clergyman  ;  and  much  better 
discharged  than  is  sometimes  done  by  a  Con- 
gregational church.  But  the  question  is,  to 
which  is  the  purity  of  the  church  most  safely 
intrusted.  To  the  church  itself,  I  have  no 
doubt.  Whoever  has  consulted  history,  or  is 
acquainted  with  human  nature,  must  know  that 
ambition,  timidity,  favoritism,  are  more  apt  to 
pervert  the  action  of  church  officers  than  of  the 
church  itself.  But  the  most  important  consid- 
eration belonging  to  this  subject,  is,  that  Con- 
gregationalism is  much  more  favorable  to  the 
work  of  reform,  than  its  rival  systems.  When 
the  church  has  become  corrupt,  how  shall  piety 
and  doctrinal  purity  be  restored  to  it ;  or  how 
shall  true  religion  be  revived  in  the  community  ? 
According    to    Congregationalism,  the    piety 


CONGREGATIONALISM.  101 

■which  remains  may  then  secede  and  reorganize 
itself  in  a  new  church :  or  if  no  spiritual  life 
remains,  if  all  the  members  have  become  apos- 
tate from  the  true  faith,  then  on  the  reappear- 
ance of  piety  in  any  number  of  individuals,  they 
may  be  immediately  organized  into  a  new  church. 
Every  congregation  of  believers  associated  for 
church  purposes,  is  a  complete  church,  invested 
with  all  the  powers  which  are  necessary  to  at- 
tain its  end,  and  may  come  into  existence,  ac- 
cording to  the  Congregational  system,  without 
the  concurrence  of  a  bishop  or  presbytery. 
But  not  so  with  those  systems  which  see  in 
particular  churches  only  the  parts  of  a  national 
or  provincial  church,  and  hold  all  their  pro- 
ceedings subject  to  revision  by  powers  without 
and  above  them.  Revi^ls  of  piety  and  at- 
tempts at  reform  are  liable  to  be  suppressed  in 
their  very  beginnings,  by  such  ecclesiastical 
courts.  See  8th  chapter  of  Bacon's  Manual ; 
also  Punchard's  View  of  Congregationalism, 
pp.  176-182. 

Q.  106.  What  evidence  is  there  that  the  in- 
fluence of  Congregationalism  on  civil  society  is 
peculiarly  propitious  ? 

A .  There  is  an  obvious  tendency  in  a  popular 
form  of  ecclesiastical  government,  both  to  sug- 
9* 


102  PREFERABLENESS    OF 

gest  to  the  minds  of  men  a  popular  civil  govern- 
ment, and  to  qualify  a  people  for  self-govern- 
ment. This  tendency  is  the  parent  of  our  own 
free  civil  institutions.  See  Punchard's  View 
of  Congregationalism,  pp.  169-172. 

Q.  107.  How  is  Congregationalism  likely  to 
confer  greater  benefits  on  the  world  than  other 
ecclesiastical  systems  ? 

A.  The  way  is  obvious,  if  we  consider  a  mo- 
ment the  tendency  of  Congregational  Chrstian- 
ity  to  subvert  both  civil  and  ecclesiastical  des- 
potisms, the  two  grand  obstacles  to  the  progress 
of  society  in  religion  and  general  happiness. 
Wherever  this  form  of  Christianity  goes,  it  must 
carry  with  it  that  free  spirit,  intelligence,  and 
capacity  for  self-government,  which  will  gradu- 
ally liberalize,  if  it  d^es  not  wholly  change, 
the  constitutions  and  laws  of  nations.  And  as 
to  ecclesiastical  despotisms,  Congregationalism 
supersedes  them  wherever  it  gains  possession 
of  the  soil. 

Whether  this  is  a  blessing  to  the  world  or  not  will  in- 
deed be  differently  decided  by  mankind  according  to  their 
opposite  views  of  the  practical  Influence  of  the  liicrar- 
chies  of  Christendom.  Some  will  justly  consider  these  hie- 
rarchies as  so  many  obstacles  to  the  progress  of  truth  ; 
incumbrances  to  Christianity ;  burdens  on  the  church. 


CONGREGATIONALISM,  103 

They  load  the  people  witJi  taxes  to  support  their  higher 
clergy  in  a  state  of  grandeur  and  luxury  that  ill  accords 
with  the  spirit  of  the  gospel.  They  frowTi  on  all  reforms. 
Change,  progress,  improvement,  are  to  them  only  omens 
of  their  own  downfall.  How  different  would  be  the  pros- 
pects of  Protestant  Clnistianity  within  the  boundaries  of 
the  Papal  and  Greek  churches,  if  those  hierarchies  were 
destroyed,  and  all  the  particular  congregations  of  Chris- 
tians organized  on  the  Congregational  plan !  How 
would  the  spirit  of  piety,  of  intelligence,  of  general  im- 
provement, revive  in  all  those  countries !  What  new 
success  would  crown  the  efforts  of  Protestant  Mission- 
aries to  restore  the  corrupt  churches  of  the  old  world  to 
evangehcal  purity ! 

Q.  108.  What  other  peculiar  excellence  do 
you  perceive  in  Congregationalism  ? 

A.  The  Congregational  mode  of  discipline  is 
more  effective  than  any  other.  This  is  owing 
in  part  to  the  fact  that  "  the  punishment  which 
is  inflicted  of  many,"  carries  with  it  the  weight 
of  public  opinion.  Compare  the  effect  of  Con- 
gregational discipline  with  that  of  some  other 
churches.  How  slight  a  sense  of  shame  and 
alarm  is  felt  by  an  Episcopalian  or  a  Methodist 
on  being  excluded  from  the  church  by  the  sole 
act  of  the  minister  in  charge !  It  is  a  very 
trivial  affair  in  comparison  with  the  proceedings 
of  a  Congregational  church,  according  to  the 
rules  in  Matt,  xviii ;  and  produces  on  the  sub- 


104  PREFERABLENESS    OF 

ject  of  discipline  and  the  community  at  large,  a 
very  different  and  inferior  impression.  But  this 
is  not  the  sole  excellence  of  the  Congregational 
method  of  discipline.  Discipline  is  well  de- 
scribed (Mitchell's  Guide,  p.  62)  as  a  uther  and 
a  better  thing  in  the  hands  of  the  church  than 
it  is  in  merely  official  hands.  The  aid  of  the 
brethren  is  of  great  use  in  reclaiming  offenders. 
It  is  the  very  influence  which  Christ  has  pre- 
scribed to  be  employed,  and  by  far  the  most 
likely  to  effect  its  object. 

Q.  109.  But  is  it  not  alledged  as  a  practical 
objection  to  Congregationalism,  that  it  has  no 
public  Confession  of  Faith  by  which  to  secure 
uniformity  of  views  and  guard  the  purity  of  the 
churches  ? 

A.  This  objection  is  doubtless  of  great  weight 
with  those  who  are  accustomed  to  depend  on 
such  Formularies  of  Doctrine  and  Discipline 
for  safety,  but  it  has  in  fact  no  weight  what- 
ever.    For — 

1.  The  Bible  is  the  standard  of  the  Congre- 
gational churches.  They  have  each  a  particu- 
lar Confession,  and  commonly  a  few  simple  ar- 
ticles of  practice,  drawn  up  for  the  sake  of 
convenience,  although  they  do  not  appeal  to 
these  formularies  as  "  standards"  of  faith  and 


CONGREGATIONALISM.  105 

practice.  In  this  they  are  sustained  by  the 
Bible,  for  that  "  declares  its  own  authority  and 
sufficiency,  and  requires  a  direct  reference  to 
itself  on  all  questions  of  a  religious  or  moral 
nature."  2  Tim.  iii.  16,  17;  John  v.  39;  Matt, 
xxii.  29. 

2.  In  this  respect  the  Congregational  church- 
es conform  to  the  primitive  model.  The  first 
Christians  had  no  standard  or  test  of  truth  but 
the  Bible.  See  Mitchell's  Guide,  p.  50.  Com- 
pare Ques.  30. 

3.  Notwithstanding  Congregationalists  have 
no  other  authoritative  rule  of  faith  or  practice 
than  the  word  of  God,  their  sentiments  are  un- 
commonly well  defined,  well  known,  and  har- 
monious. (Mitchell,  p.  51.)  What  the  Con- 
gregational Union  of  England  and  Wales  say 
respecting  the  denomination  in  that  country,  is 
equally  true  of  the  churches  in  the  United 
States.  "  They  wish  it  to  be  observed,  (they 
say,)  that  notwithstanding  their  jealousy  of  5m6- 
scription  to  Creeds  and  Articles,  and  their  gen- 
eral disapproval  of  the  imposition  of  any  human 
standard,  they  are  far  more  agreed  in  their  doc- 
trines and  practices  than  any  church  which 
enjoins  subscription  and  enforces  a  human 
standard  of  orthodoxy." 


106  PREFERABLENESS,    &C. 

4.  The  effect  of  these  human  standards  is 
proverbially  the  opposite  of  what  it  is  intended 
to  be.  They  do  not  accomplish  their  object 
either  as  defenses  against  heresy  or  as  bonds 
of  union  and  concord.  Mitchell's  Guide,  pp. 
53-56. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE    PROTESTANT    EPISCOPAL    CHURCH. 

Q.  110.  What  was  the  origin  of  the  Protest- 
ant Episcopal  Church  in  this  country  ? 

A.  The  early  clergymen  of  this  denomina- 
tion were  missionaries  from  the  established 
church  of  England.  Their  parishes  were  in- 
cluded in  the  diocese  of  London,  previous  to 
the  American  Revolution. 

Q.  111.  What  was  the  origin  of  the  estab- 
lished church  of  England  ? 

A.  It  is  the  ancient  church  of  England  as  it 
was  reformed  and  organized  by  the  court  and 
bishops  in  the  reigns  of  Henry  the  VIII,  Ed- 
ward the  VI,  and  Queen  Elizabeth. 

Q.  112.  How  does  the  Protestant  Episco- 
pal church  in  the  United  States  differ  from  the 
church  of  England  ? 

A.  The  church  of  England  is  connected 
with  the  State  as  a  national  establishment,  and 


108  THE  PROTESTANT. 

has  various  officers,  as  Archbishops,  Archdea- 
cons, Deans,  Prebendaries,  Canons,  Minor 
Canons,  Chancellors,  Vicars-general,  Com- 
missaries, Officials,  Surrogates,  Proctors, 
&€.,  which  are  not  known  in  this  country. 
The  monarch  of  England  is  the  supreme  head 
of  the  church,  with  power  to  nominate  the 
Bishops,  reverse  votes  of  Parliament,  and  stop 
the  proceedings  of  the  clergy. 

Q.  113.  Wherein  does  the  Constitution  of 
this  church,  in  the  United  States,  differ  from 
that  of  the  primitive  churches,  as  described  in 
the  New  Testament  ? 

A.  The  Protestant  Episcopal  church  is  in- 
capable of  being  assembled  in  one  place,  that 
the  members  may  give  their  vote  in  ecclesias- 
tical affairs  :  and  the  several  congregations  of 
which  it  is  composed  are  all  obliged  to  an 
absolute  uniformity  of  faith,  worship,  and  dis- 
cipline. They  are  not  so  many  distinct 
churches,  but  together  constitute  one  national 
church. 

Q.  114.  How  many  orders  of  ministers  are 
there  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church  ? 

A.  Three  ;  Bishops,  Priests,  and  Deacons. 

Q.  115.  What  is  the  office  and  authority  of 
the  Bishops  ? 


EPISCOPAL  CHURCH.  109 

A.  They  have  the  sole  power  of  ordaining 
the  clergy,  of  consecrating  churches,  and  of 
administering  the  right  of  confirmation.  They 
also  have  great  authority  over  the  inferior 
clergy. 

Q.  116.  What  have  you  to  object  to  the  su- 
periority of  the  Bishops  over  the  parochial 
clergy  1 

A.  No  such  distinction  of  ministers  is  ap- 
pointed by  Christ  in  his  church,  but  on  the  con- 
trary he  has  expressly  forbidden  them  to  as- 
sume dominion  over  one  another.  See  Matt. 
XX.  25-27,  xxiii.  8. 

Q.  117.  What  is  there  objectionable  in  the 
manner  of  ordination  by  Bishops  ? 

A.  They  require  all  whom  they  ordain,  to 
declare  that  they  are  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  in  undertaking  the  ministerial  office  ; 
and  then  pretend  to  confer  the  Spirit  by  the 
imposition  of  their  hands,  saying,  "  Receive 
the  Holy  Ghost,"  &c. 

Q.  1 18.  Can  none  officiate  as  ministers  in  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  church,  who  have  not  re- 
ceived Episcopal  ordination  ? 

A.  No ;  all  other  ordination  is  pronounced 
invalid.     Even  ordination  by  Methodist  Bish- 
ops is  considered  insufficient,  because  it  has 
10 


110  THE  PROTESTANT 

no  higher  authority  than  Presbyterian  ordina- 
tion, the  first  Methodist  Bishop  having  been 
consecrated  by  a  presbyter,  John  Wesley. 

Q.  119.  What  is  the  common  argument  for 
the  exclusive  right  of  the  Bishops  to  ordain  ? 

A.  That  they  have  derived  the  right  by  un- 
interrupted succession  from  the  Apostles. 

Q.  120.  What  is  objected  to  this  right  by 
uninterrupted  succession  ? 

A.  There  are  several  objections  : 

1.  The  Scriptures  nowhere  mention  it  as 
necessary  to  render  ordination  valid. 

2.  There  is  no  reason  why  it  should  be  ne- 
cessary. What  good  purpose  would  be  an- 
swered, if  instead  of  tracing  their  ordination  to 
Mr.  Wesley,  the  clergy  of  the  Methodist  de- 
nomination could  trace  it  back  to  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  ?  Would  it  give  them 
any  new  ideas  ?  Would  it  make  them  more 
able  or  more  devoted  ministers  of  the  New 
Testament  ?  Would  it  add  to  the  force  of 
their  preaching,  or  to  the  sanctifying  influence 
of  Christian  ordinances  administered  by  their 
hands  ?  Certainly  not.  What  good  purpose 
then  could  it  answer  ?  Was  this  doctrine  of 
succession  an  expedient  of  the  Apostles  to  pre- 
serve the  external  unity  of  the  church,  or,  as 


EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 


Ill 


it  is  said,  to  prevent  schism  or  secession  from 
the  Catholic  church  ?  This  is  the  use  to  which 
it  is  now  attempted  to  put  it ;  and  strange  as  it 
may  seem,  Episcopalians  cling  to  it  as  a 
"  principle"  which  is  uUimately  to  reunite  the 
scattered  fragments  of  the  universal  church. 
That  state  of  things  which  they  hope  to  see, 
viz:  all  Christians  combined  in  one  denomi- 
nation, if  it  shall  ever  come  to  pass,  is  not  to 
be  effected  by  such  a  miserable  device.  The 
expedient,  if  it  was  apostolical,  has  accom- 
plished nothing  ;  for  we  see  the  churches  of 
Rome  and  of  Constantinople  early  divided,  and 
subsequently,  the  church  of  England  separa- 
ting from  that  of  Rome,  besides  a  multitude  of 
other  divisions  in  every  age  of  the  church. 
And  it  is  remarkable,  if  this  doctrine  is  apos- 
tolical, that  the  greatest  evils  the  kingdom  of 
Christ  ever  suffered,  have  been  produced  by 
the  efforts  of  its  adherents  to  secure  this  unity 
and  uniformity.  Why,  moreover,  if  the  Apos- 
tles established  this  law  of  succession  for  the 
sake  of  unity,  did  they  not  record  so  important 
a  fact  ?  The  truth  is,  they  never  did  establish 
it ;  for  nothing  would  tend  so  directly  and 
powerfully  to  build  up  a  spiritual  despotism  in 


112  THE  PROTESTANT 

the  churches  of  Christ ;  and  to  perpetuate  the 
worst  corruptions  that  might  infest  them. 

3.  The  Protestant  Episcopal  church  cannot 
prove  that  her  ministry  is  derived  by  a  regu- 
lar succession  of  ordinations  from  the  Apos- 
tles. 

This  is  admitted  by  the  best  scholars  in  her 
own  communion.  See  Archbishop  Whateley, 
in  his  late  learned  work  on  the  Kingdom  of 
Christ,  Essay  II,  sec.  30. 

Q.  121.  What  is  the  highest  authority  in 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  church  in  this  coun- 
try, where  there  are  no  archbishops  ? 

A.  The  sovereignty  resides  in  the  individ- 
ual diocesan  churches,  each  of  which  forms 
its  own  constitution,  frames  canons  for  internal 
government,  and  decides  on  all  cases  of  disci- 
pline, except  that  the  Bishop  must  be  approved, 
ordained,  and,  when  impeached,  tried  by  his 
peers,  that  is,  by  other  Bishops.  But  all  gen- 
eral matters  relating  to  the  whole  church  are 
regulated  by  a  triennial  Convention,  which 
frames  canons,  regulates  the  Liturgy  and  offi- 
ces of  worship,  decides  on  the  formation  of 
new  dioceses,  appoints  missionary  Bishops, 
and  holds  correspondence  with  foreign  bodies. 
This  Convention  has  also  the  power  of  alter- 


EPISCOPAL  CHURCH.  113 

ing  or  amending  its  own  constitution,  by  pub- 
lishing the  proposed  alteration  at  one  triennial 
meeting,  and  adopting  them  at  a  subsequent 
meeting.  It  is  composed  of  all  the  Bishops, 
who  form  an  upper  house  :  and  of  clerical  and 
lay  delegates  from  the  several  dioceses,  who 
form  a  lower  house  ;  and  the  concurrence  of 
both  houses  is  requisite  to  the  validity  of  its 
acts.  See  Constitution  of  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal church  in  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica. 

Q.  122.  What  is  the  nature  and  design  of 
the  rite  of  confirmation  as  performed  by  the 
Bishops  ? 

A.  It  is  designed  for  young  persons,  who 
thereby  take  upon  themselves  the  vows  which 
their  sponsors  made  in  their  names  at  their 
baptism. 

Q.  123.  What  does  the  Bishop  do  on  these 
occasions  ? 

A.  He  thanks  God  for  having  regenerated 
them  by  water  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  for- 
given all  their  sins.  He  then  lays  his  hands 
upon  the  head  of  every  person  to  certify  them 
all,  by  that  sign,  of  God's  favor  and  gracious 
goodness  towards  them. 
10* 


114  THE  PROTESTANT 

Q.  124.  What  is  required  of  persons  in  or- 
der to  their  being  thus  confirmed  ? 

A.  Nothing  more  than  their  having  a  cer- 
tificate from  their  minister,  that  they  can  say 
the  Lord's  prayer,  the  creed,  the  ten  com- 
mandments, and  the  catechism  ;  and  their  an- 
swering all  together  to  the  question,  "  Whether 
they  renew  the  vows  made  in  their  name  at 
their  baptism  ?" 

Q.  125.  What  objection  is  there  to  this 
ceremony  ? 

A.  It  has  no  foundation  in  Scripture,  and  is 
attended  with  very  dangerous  consequences. 

The  principal  text  urged  in  favor  of  confirmation  is 
nothing  to  the  purpose,  viz :  Acts  ^^ii.  14,  &lc.,  which 
refers  to  the  extraordinary  gifts  conferred  by  Peter  and 
John.  The  confirmation  spoken  of,  Acts  xiv.  22,  and 
XV.  41,  was  not  by  unposition  of  hands,  but  hy  preach' 
ing. 

Q.  126.  What  dangerous  consequence  is 
likely  to  arise  from  this  rite  ? 

A.  Ignorant  people  who  have  too  good  an 
opinion  of  the  Bishop  to  think  he  would  de- 
clare a  falsehood,  are  likely  to  look  upon  them- 
selves to  be  what  he  has  declared  they  are, 
pardoned,  regenerated,  and  interested  in  God's 


EPISCOPAL   CHURCH.  115 

favor,  and  so   conclude   their   state    is    safe, 
while  yet  they  continue  in  their  sins. 

MODE  OF  WORSHIP. 

Q.  127.  What  is  the  mode  of  worship  in 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  church  ? 

A.  A  form  of  prayer  is  statedly  used,  called 
the  Liturgy  or  Common  Prayer. 

Q.  128.  Are  forms  of  prayer  in  themselves 
sinful  ? 

A.  No  :  it  is  better  to  pray  by  a  form  than 
not  at  all,  or  in  an  indecent,  incoherent  man- 
ner. 

Q.  129.  What  objections  then  are  there  to 
Liturgies  ? 

A.  1.  The  Scripture  is  silent  respecting  the 
necessity  or  expediency  of  them,  and  refers  to 
none  in  use,  though  it  treats  largely  on  divine 
worship,  and  mentions  the  prayers  of  good  men, 
on  various  occasions.     See  Ques.  70. 

2.  It  seems  unreasonable  that  Christian 
ministers  should  be  confined  to  an  invariable 
form  in  their  prayers,  more  than  in  their  ser- 
mons. 

3.  The  influence  of  sympathy  between  the 
minister  and  his  hearers  is  in  a  great  measure 


116  THE  PROTESTANT 

lost.  The  people  are  moved  and  excited  to 
devotion  by  the  fervor  of  an  extemporary- 
prayer,  the  evident  breathings  of  the  spirit  of 
their  pastor.  A  prescribed  form  breaks  this 
chain  of  sympathy. 

4.  A  form  tends  to  promote  indolence  in 
ministers,  so  far  as  it  prevents  the  exertion  of 
their  faculties. 

5.  The  constant  repetition  of  the  same  thing 
tends  to  deaden  the  affections  of  the  worship- 
ers, and  promote  formality. 

6.  Liturgies  cannot  be  adapted  to  all  the 
circumstances  of  different  societies,  and  the 
several  events  which  may  occur,  and  which 
ought  to  be  noticed  in  public  prayer. 

Q.  130.  What  is  exceptionable  in  the  gen- 
eral form  and  construction  of  the  Liturgy  ? 

A.  1.  The  method  is  irregular  and  confused. 
The  several  prayers,  collects,  &c.,  are  with- 
out any  order  or  connection. 

2.  The  parts  into  which  it  is  divided  are  too 
many  and  too  minute.  Some  of  the  distinct 
prayers,  and  especially  the  collects,  seem  to 
have  no  distinguishing  object,  but  are  little 
more  than  introduction  and  conclusion.  See 
Col.  for  2d  Sunday  after  Epiph.,  2d  before 
Lent,  3d,  4th,  and  5th  in  Lent. 


EPISCOPAL  CHURCH.  117 

3.  It  is  full  of  tautology  and  vain  repeti- 
tions. 

4.  It  is  in  some  views  very  defective.  The 
confession  is  too  general ;  as,  indeed,  are  the 
petitions  and  thanksgivings. 

5.  The  service  is  too  long ;  in  consequence 
of  which  too  little  time  is  given  for  preach- 
ing the  Gospel. 

Q.  132.  What  is  exceptionable,  as  to  senti- 
ment, in  particular  parts  of  the  Liturgy  ? 

A.  1.  In  the  office  of  Baptism. 

Such  expressions  are  used  concerning  the 
efficacy  of  that  rite  as  naturally  lead  persons 
to  conceive  of  it  as  a  saving  ordinance. 

God  is  thanked  for  having  regenerated  the 
child  hy  his  Holy  Spirit.  The  water  is  called 
the  laver  of  regeneration,  by  which  the  child, 
being  born  in  original  sin  and  in  the  wrath  of 
God,  is  received  into  the  number  of  the  child- 
ren of  God,  and  heirs  of  everlasting  life.  Ac- 
cordingly in  the  Catechism  the  child  is  taught 
to  say  of  its  baptism, — "  wherein  I  was  made 
a  member  of  Christ,  a  child  of  God,  and  an 
inheritor  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven."  A  sen- 
timent as  dangerous  as  it  is  unreasonable  and 
unscriptural.  The  catechism  recognizes  a  dis- 
tinction between  the  "  outward  sign"  and  the 


118  THE  PROTESTANT 

"  inward  grace  ;"  yet  the  doctrine  commonly 
maintained  is,  that  the  "  inward  grace"  is  con- 
ferred on  the  child  by  the  Holy  Spirit  at  the 
time  of  applying  the  "outward  sign." 

2.  In  the  Communion  Service. 

Some  expressions  strongly  favor  the  notion 
of  Christ's  real  presence  in  the  bread  and  wine : 
a  superstitious  regard  to  which  is  encouraged 
by  the  use  of  the  term  consecration,  and  by 
bowing  the  knee,  to  receive  the  bread  and 
wine. 

The  words  used  are  :  "  Grant  us  therefore 
so  to  eat  the  flesh  of  thy  dear  son  Jesus  Christ, 
and  so  to  drink  his  blood,  that  our  sinful  bodies 
may  be  made  clean  by  his  body,"  &c.  When 
the  minister  gives  the  bread,  he  says,  "  The 
body  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  preserve  thy 
body  and  soul ;"  and  when  giving  the  cup, 
"  The  blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  preserve 
thy  body  and  soul,"  &c. 

3.  In  the  Burial  Service. 

This  one  service  is  read  at  all  funerals 
without  distinction,  whatever  the  age,  circum- 
stances or  character  of  the  deceased  may  be  ; 
even  though  he  is  known  to  have  been  a  most 
abandoned  sinner  and  hardened  infidel,  and  to 
have  died  without  any  signs   of  repentance  ; 


EPISCOPAL  CHURCH.  119 

the  only  exceptions  being  unhaptized  adults, 
self-murderers,  or  excommunicated  persons, 
which  last  case  very  rarely  happens.  In  this 
service  the  minister  is  required  to  style  the  de- 
ceased— "  Our  deceased  brother" — an  ex- 
pression which  must  often  wound  the  con- 
science of  the  minister,  and  be  attended  with 
very  dangerous  consequences  to  the  people, 
who  may  naturally  encourage  themselves  to 
go  on  in  sin,  on  the  presumption  of  obtaining 
happiness  at  last,  since  they  so  often  hear 
persons  of  the  most  infamous  characters,  and 
others  with  no  pretensions  to  piety,  called, 
when  dead,  Christian  brethren. 

4.  The  use  of  the  Apocryphal  Books. 
The  reading  of  Lessons  from  the  Apocryphal 
books  seems  to  give  the  Apocrypha  equal 
authority  with  the  Bible,  and  encourages  the 
Papists  in  their  errors. 

5.  In  the  Litany,  or  General  Supplication, 
the  manner  in  which  the  Trinity  is  addressed, 
at  the  beginning,  has  been  thought  by  Trinita- 
rians (Calvin  in  particular)  very  exceptionable, 
as  it  is  without  Scripture  precedent. 

Q.  132.  How  is  it  to  be  accounted  for  that 
the  Liturgy  contains  so  many  exceptionable 
things  ? 


120  THE  PROTESTANT 

A.  The  plain  reason  is,  the  greater  part  of 
it  was  taken  from  the  old  Popish  Liturgy  ; 
from  which  the  first  Reformers  prudently  made 
as  little  variation  as  possible.  Some  improve- 
ments have  been  made  by  the  church  in  this 
country. 

When  the  Devonsliire  men  were  stirred  up  to  rebell- 
ion on  account  of  the  alteration  of  their  Mass  Book, 
King  Edward  VI  tells  them  in  a  letter,  to  quiet  them, 
As  for  the  service  in  the  Enghsh  tongue,  it  perchance 
seems  to  you  a  new  service,  but  yet,  indeed  it  is  no  other 
but  the  old  ;  the  self  same  words  in  English.  Accord- 
ingly some  of  the  Popes  offered  to  confirm  the  English 
Liturgy.  See  Art.  Liturgy,  in  the  New  Englander,  Vol. 
L    See  Delaune's  Plea,  47-52. 

CEREMONIES. 

Q.  133.  What  are  the  objectionable  ceremo- 
nies used  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  ? 

A.  1.  Bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus.  2.  Sign- 
ing with  a  cross  in  baptism.  3.  Particular  ges- 
tures in  worship,  especially  kneeling  at  the 
Lord's  Supper. 

Q.  134.  Why  should  not  the  people  "bow 
at  the  name  of  Jesus"  ?  Are  we  not  required 
to  do  so  ? 

A.  The  passage  of  scripture  (Philip,  ii.  10) 


EPISCOPAL  CHURCH.  121 

on  which  this  practice  is  founded,  cannot  rea- 
sonably be  taken  in  a  literal  sense  ;  and  it  is 
absurd  to  suppose  that  such  a  ceremony  should 
be  enjoined  in  honor  of  the  Son,  and  not  of  the 
Father,  or  at  the  mention  of  the  name  Je- 
sus, and  not  of  any  other  of  the  numerous 
names  by  which  the  Son  of  God  is  called. 
The  practice  savors  of  superstition. 

Q.  135.  What  is  the  pretence  for  the  Priest's 
crossing  the  forehead  in  baptism  ? 

A.  It  is  said  to  be  done  as  a  token  that  the 
person  baptized  "  shall  not  be  ashamed  to  con- 
fess the  faith  of  Christ  crucified,  and  manfully 
to  fight  under  his  banner." 

The  cross  in  baptism  was  first  introduced  in 
the  fourth  century,  by  a  sect  called  the  Basil- 
idians. 

Q.  136.  What  is  objected  to  this  ceremony  ? 
A.  1 .  Christ  never  appointed  it. 

2.  If  the  mark  of  a  cross  must  be  used  as  a 
badge  of  a  disciple  of  Christ,  it  ought  to  be 
either  visible  and  permanent,  or  often  repeated, 
as  it  is  by  the  Papists. 

3.  To  use  this  sign  in  baptism,  is  to  make 
two  sacraments  of  one,  according  to  the  defini- 
tion of  a  sacrament,  as  an  "  outward  visible 
sign  of  an  inward  and  spiritual  grace." 

11 


122  THE  PROTESTANT 

4.  If  there  were  no  particular  objections  to 
the  practice,  it  would  be  condemned  by  the 
general  principle,  that  no  additions  should 
needlessly  be  made  to  the  simple  ritual  of  the 
primitive  church. 

Q.  137.  Why  should  we  object  to  so  trifling 
a  ceremony  as  kneeling  at  the  sacrament  of  the 
supper,  since  we  do  not  scruple  to  kneel  in 
prayer  ? 

A.  The  practice  of  kneeling  took  its  rise 
from  the  Popish  adoration  of  the  elements  as 
the  very  body  and  blood  of  Christ ;  and  it  can- 
not be  repeated  in  the  presence  of  those  who 
regard  them  in  this  light,  without  encouraging 
their  superstition  and  idolatry. 

Q.  138.  Are  there  not  some  other  questiona- 
ble ceremonies  observed  in  this  church  ? 

A.  There  are  several  customs,  which  par- 
take of  the  nature  of  ceremonies,  and  are  liable 
to  much  the  same  objections  :  for  example,  the 
wearing  of  particular  habits,  observing  certain 
days  as  holy,  the  distinction  of  places  and  the 
use  of  sponsors  in  baptism. 

All  these  are  mere  human  and  arbitrary  appointments, 
unknown  in  the  prhnitivc  chm'ch,  ill  according  with  the 
simplicity  of  the  Gospel,  and  calculated  to  satisfy  the  re- 
ligious feeling  of  the  people  with  forms,  rather  than  with 
divine  truth. 


EPISCOPAL   CHURCH.  123 

The  office  of  sponsors  is  particularly  exceptionable, 
because  the  sponsors  are  made  to  personate  the  child  at 
its  baptism,  and  soleimily  engage  for  its  religious  educa- 
tion, though  often  they  expect  never  to  have  any  thing  to 
do  with  its  education  ;  and  they  even  promise  and  vow 
these  things  in  its  name :  1st.  That  it  doth  renounce 
the  de^^l  and  all  his  works,  the  vain  pomp  and  glory  of 
the  world,  with  all  covetous  desires  of  the  same,  and 
the  sinful  desires  of  the  flesh.  2d.  That  it  doth  believe 
all  the  articles  of  the  Christian  faith.  3d.  That  it  will 
keep  God's  holy  will  and  commandments,  and  walk 
in  the  same  all  the  days  of  its  Ufe :  which  engagement 
is  such  as  none  can  fulfill. 


DISCIPLINE. 

Q.  139.  Is  there  any  thing  objectionable  in  the 
discipline  of  this  church  ? 

A.  Yes  ;  it  is  not  in  the  hands  of  the  brother- 
hood of  each  particular  church,  according  to  the 
primitive  pattern  ;  and  all  persons  who  have 
been  confirmed  by  the  bishop,  and  who  are  not  ex- 
communicated nor  grossly  immoral,  are  allowed 
to  come  to  the  communion,  contrary  to  the  order 
of  the  primitive  church,  which  was  composed 
solely  of  those  who  gave  credible  evidence  of 
having  been  "  born  again."  It  is  true  that  the 
minister  charges  those  that  come  to  the  sacra- 


124  THE   PROTESTANT,  &C. 

merit,  to  be  truly  penitent  for  their  sins,  &c., 
but  there  is  no  personal  examination  to  see 
whether  they  are  so,  and  nothing  required  at 
their  confirmation  to  satisfy  a  sober  and  intel- 
ligent Christian,  that  they  have  ever  passed 
from  death  unto  life. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

CONSTITUTION  OF    THE    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL 
CHURCH. 

Q.  140.  What  was  the  origin  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  church  in  the  United  States  ? 

A.  It  was  founded  by  John  Wesley,  who,  in 
1784,  by  the  imposition  of  his  own  hands,  or- 
dained Thomas  Coke  for  the  Episcopal  office  in 
America,  and  commissioned  and  directed  him 
to  set  apart  Francis  Asbury  to  the  same  of- 
fice. By  the  hands  of  these  Bishops  and  their 
successors,  the  present  clergy  of  this  church 
have  chiefly  received  ordination.  See  Disci- 
pline of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Ch. 
I,  sec.  1. 

Q.  141.  What  is  the  general  frame  of  this 
church  ? 

A.  1.  All  the  particular  associations  of  be- 
lievers are  embraced  in  one  general  organiza- 
tion. 

11* 


126  THE  METHODIST 

The  entire  field  is  divided  into  several  annual  Confer- 
ences— thirty-three  at  the  present  time  in  the  United 
States,  and  one  each  in  Texas  and  Liberia.  Each  an- 
nual Conference  is  divided  into  several  Districts — and 
each  District  into  several  Cii-cuits  and  Stations.  A  Sta- 
tion is  one  society  or  congregation.  A  Circuit  includes 
several  societies  and  congregations. 

2.  The  societies  and  congregations  are  gov- 
erned and  instructed  for  the  most  part  by  an 
itinerant  ministry. 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  Bishops  or  general  Superintend- 
ents to  travel  over  the  whole  field,  and  exercise  their 
Episcopal  functions  in  every  part  of  it.  They  are  gener- 
al, rather  than  diocesan  Bishops — for  they  have  equal 
authority  in  all  the  Conferences,  and  divide  the  field 
among  them  in  such  a  way  that  each  goes  over  the 
whole  ground.  A  Presiding  Elder  has  charge  of  each 
District ;  but  one  person  camiot  fill  the  office  in  the  same 
District  more  than  four  years  in  succession.  And  no 
pastor  can  remain  more  than  two  years  on  a  Circuit  or 
Station.     See  Discipline,  Ch.  I,  sec.  4,  Ques.  3. 

3.  There  are  only  two  orders  in  the  ministry, 
Deacons  and  Elders  or  Presbyters.  See  John 
Emory's  Defense,  sec.  5,  p.  20. 

The  Elders,  Presiding  Elders,  and  Bishops,  are  consid- 
ered of  the  same  order,  differing  only  in  respect  to  office. 
The  Deacons  are  the  second  order,  who  have  not  yet  risen 
to  the  rank  of  Elders.  There  are  many  itinerant  preachers 


EPISCOPAL  CHURCH.  127 

who  have  not  been  ordained,  but  are  candidates  for  the 
order  of  Deacons. 

4.  The  business  of  organizing  churches, 
teaching  the  people,  and  administering  disci- 
pline, belongs  wholly  to  the  ordained  ministry. 
See  Discipline,  Ch.  I,  sec.  3. 

But  this  does  not  imply  that  the  clergy  shall  not  call 
m  the  aid  of  others.  Hence  they  have  various  officers  in 
the  church  to  assist  in  pastoral  labor  and  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  discipline,  viz :  Local  Preachers,  Exhorters, 
Class  Leaders,  Stewards,  and  Committees. 

5.  The  chief  government  of  the  church  is 
vested  in  various  official  bodies  or  judicato- 
ries. 

The  highest  is  the  General  Conference,  which  meets 
once  every  four  years,  and  is  composed  of  delegates 
from  the  Annual  Conferences.  The  next  in  order  are  the 
Annual  Conferences,  w^hich  are  composed  of  the  travel- 
ing preachers  within  their  several  bounds.  The  next  are 
Quarterly  Conferences.  Tliese  are  composed  of  the 
Preachers,  itinerant  and  local,  of  a  circuit  or  station,  with 
the  Exliorters,  Class  Leaders  and  Stewards.  See  Dis- 
cipline, Ch.  I,  sec.  4,  Ques.  4.  Ch.  I,  sec.  3,  Ques.  2. 
Ch.  I,  sec.  21. 

6.  The  Presiding  Elders,  and  the  pastors 
of  the  several  circuits  and  stations,  receive 


128  THE  METHODIST 

their  appointments  directly  from  the  Bishop, 
at  each  Annual  Conference — for  the  appoint- 
ments are  made  or  renewed  every  year. 

Churches  or  societies  may  petition  for  a  particular 
minister,  but  can  do  no  more.  So  ministers,  if  they  see 
fit,  can  solicit  an  appointment  to  a  particiolar  field  of  la- 
bor, but  still  they  are  subject  to  the  appointing  power. 
See  Discipline,  Ch.  I,  sec.  4. 

Q.  143.  How  are  members  admitted  to  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  ? 

A.  The  official  minister  or  circuit  preach- 
er receives  into  full  membership  any  baptized 
person  whom  he  considers  worthy,  provided 
he  has  been  on  trial  and  has  met  in  class  for 
six  months,  and  is  recommended  as  a  suitable 
person  for  church  fellowship  by  his  class  lead- 
er.    See  Discipline,  Ch.  If,  sec.  2. 

Q.  143.  How  are  unworthy  members  ex- 
cluded from  this  church  ? 

A.  '*  The  Society,"  or  several  individuals, 
are  summoned  by  the  minister  to  try  the  case, 
and  if  the  accused  is  found  guilty,  the  minister 
suspends  or  expels  him  from  the  church,  as 
the  circumstances  of  the  case  may  require. 
If  either  the  minister  or  the  subject  of  disci- 
pline is  dissatisfied  with  the  result  of  the  trial, 


EPISCOPAL  CHURCH.  129 

he  may  appeal  to  the  next  Quarterly  Confer- 
ence.    See  Discipline,  Ch.  II,  sec.  7. 

Q.  144.  What  are  the  official  powers  of  a 
pastor  or  preacher  of  a  Circuit  ? 

A.  He  Licenses  the  exhorters ;  appoints 
and  removes  at  pleasure  the  class  leaders  ; 
and  has  the  general  oversight  and  direction  of 
all  the  spiritual  and  secular  affairs  of  the  Cir- 
cuit.    See  Discipline,  Ch.  I.  sec.  10. 

Q.  145.  What  are  the  official  powers  of  a 
Presiding  Elder  of  a  District  ? 

A.  He  has  the  control  and  direction  of  all 
the  traveling  and  local  preachers  within  his 
District.     See  Discipline,  Ch.  I,  sec.  5. 

Q.  146.  What  are  the  powers  of  the  Bish- 
ops ? 

A.  They  have  the  sole  power  of  appointing 
the  Presiding  Elders,  of  stationing  the  preach- 
ers, and  of  moving  them  whenever  they  think 
best,  subject  to  certain  restrictions.  They 
have  also  the  power  of  ordination,  and  the 
general  control  of  the  temporal  and  spiritual 
concerns  of  the  church.  See  Discipline,  Ch. 
I,  sec.  4,  sec.  5,  Ques.  1.  Yet  this  power  of 
stationing  the  preachers  may  be  taken  from 
them  at  any  time  by  the  General  Conference — 
on   which  body,  indeed,  they  are   wholly  de- 


130  THE  METHODIST 

pendent.  See  "  A  Defense  of  our  Fathers," 
by  John  Emory,  p.  64. 

Q.  147.  What  have  you  to  object  to  this 
system  of  church  polity  ? 

A.  My  principal  objections  are — 

1.  It  divests  all  the  particular  churches  of 
church  power,  and  vests  the  w^hole  power  in 
the  hands  of  the  clergy,  by  whom,  history  in- 
forms us,  it  is  extremely  liable  to  be  abused. 

2.  It  wholly  overlooks  and  abrogates  the 
rules  of  discipline  given  by  Christ  in  the  18th 
chap,  of  Matt. 

3.  It  takes  from  the  brethren  the  right  of 
choosing  their  own  religious  teachers,  on 
which  right,  more  than  on  any  other,  the 
church  depends  for  defense  against  false  and 
incompetent  teachers. 

4.  It  deprives  the  churches  of  resident  pas- 
tors and  teachers,  contrary  to  primitive  prac- 
tice, and  to  the  highest  advancement  of  the 
members  in  Christian  knowledge  and  experi- 
ence. 

Q.  148.  Has  not  the  Methodist  itinerant 
system  been  productive  of  great  good  ? 

A.  Undoubtedly  that  feature  of  the  Meth- 
odist economy  has  conduced  much  to  its  rapid 
growth  and  advancement.     But  it  seems  to  be 


EPISCOPAL  CHURCH.  131 

adapted  to  the  early  operations  of  a  new  sect, 
and  to  the  wants  of  a  sparse  population,  rather 
than  to  the  highest  edification  and  improvement 
of  the  people.  This  requires  a  permanent  minis- 
try. And  it  should  also  be  recollected,  in  institu- 
ting a  comparison  between  the  Congregational 
and  Methodist  systems,  that  the  employment  of 
traveling  preachers,  although  reduced  to  a  sys- 
tem and  carried  to  a  great  extent  by  the  Meth- 
odists, is  not  unknown  to  Congregationalism. 
Evangelists  and  missionaries  are  not  confined 
to  the  care  of  a  single  church  ;  and  it  would 
be  in  perfect  keeping  with  Congregational  or- 
der to  supply  new  and  thinly  inhabited  regions 
with  an  itinerant  ministry. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

Q.  149.  What  was  the  origin  of  the  Pres- 
byterian church  in  this  country  ? 

A.  Among  the  first  colonists  of  this  coun- 
try were  persons  from  England  and  Scotland, 
who  were  partial  to  Presbyterianism  ;  and  in 
the  course  of  the  18th  century  Presbyterian 
churches  were  organized  and  Presbyteries  con- 
stituted, with  a  Synod  embracing  the  whole 
body  of  Presbyterian  ministers,  called  the  Synod 
of  Philadelphia.  Until  1727,  this  Synod  had 
no  written  confession  or  form  of  government. 
In  that  year  it  adopted  the  Westminister  Con- 
fession of  Faith  and  Catechisms,  and  also  re- 
commended to  the  churches  under  its  care, 
"  the  Directory  for  Worship,  Discipline,  and 
Government,  commonly  annexed  to  the  West- 
minister Confession."  In  1741,  the  Synod 
was  rent  asunder,  and  two  rival  Synods  were 
12 


134  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

formed,  viz  :  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  In 
1758,  these  Synods  were  united  ;  and  in  1788, 
they  adopted  "  the  Constitution  of  the  Presby- 
terian church  in  the  United*  States  of  Ameri- 
ca." Under  this  constitution,  with  a  General 
Assembly  as  the  highest  Judicatory  of  the 
church,  they  remained  united  until  1837,  with 
the  exception  of  the  schism  of  1810,  when 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  church  was 
constituted.  In  the  year  1837,  the  General 
Assembly  passed  an  act  exscinding  from  the 
church  the  Synods  of  Geneva,  Utica,  Genesee, 
and  the  Western  Reserve.  These  exscinded 
bodies  and  other  portions  of  the  church  which 
sympathized  with  them,  regarding  the  exscind- 
ing act  of  the  assembly  as  unconstitutional,  re- 
tain their  former  title  of  "  the  Presbyterian 
Church  m  the  United  States  of  America."  In 
their  General  Assembly  of  1840,  they  enacted 
that  that  Body  shall  hereafter  meet  triennially, 
instead  of  annually,  and  that  the  judicial  deci- 
sions of  the  Synods  shall  in  all  cases  be  final. 
In  the  other  body  of  the  same  name,  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  is  still  the  highest  ecclesiasti- 
cal court.     See  Ques.  150,  Ans.  5. 

Q.    150.    What  is  the  general  frame    and 
Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  church  ? 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH.  135 

A.  1.  Like  the  Protestant  Episcopal  and 
Methodist  Episcopal  churches,  the  Presbyte- 
rian is  in  theory  a  national  church.  "The 
several  different  congregations  of  believers, 
taken  collectively,  constitute  one  church  of 
Christ,  called  emphatically,  the  Presbyterian 
church.  See  "  Form  of  Government  of  Pres- 
byterian churches  in  United  States,"  p.  397, 
18mo.  1821. 

2.  A  Church  Session,  as  it  is  called,  con- 
sisting of  the  pastor  and  several  ruling  Elders, 
is  "  charged  with  maintaining  the  spiritual 
government  of  the  Congregation."  Plan  of 
Gov.,  Ch.  X,  §  6. 

3.  From  the  decisions  of  the  Session,  ap- 
peals may  be  made  to  a  higher  court,  called 
"  the  Presbytery,"  which  is  composed  "  of  all 
the  ministers,  and  one  ruling  Elder  from  each 
congregation,"  within  a  given  district. 

4.  An  appeal  may  be  made  from  the  deci- 
sions of  the  Presbytery  to  a  third  judicatory, 
called  "  the  Synod,"  composed  of  the  minis- 
ters and  Elders  of  several  Presbyteries. 

5.  A  General  Assembly,  composed  of  a  del- 
egation of  ministers  and  Elders  from  the  sev- 
eral Presbyteries  of  the  whole  church,  is  con- 
stituted the  supreme  tribunal  and  a  court  of  ap- 


136  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

peal  for  the  final  issuing  of  all  cases,  which 
may  be  carried  up  to  it  from  the  inferior  judica- 
tories. This  assembly  has  authority  over  the 
whole  church  ;  and  is  in  fact  the  Presbyterian 
church  itself.     See  Ques.  149. 

Q.  151.  In  what  important  respects  does 
this  church  differ  from  the  Protestant  Episco- 
pal and  the  Methodist  Episcopal  churches  1 

A.  1.  In  maintaining  the  parity  or  equality 
of  all  who  labor  in  word  and  doctrine.  Both 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  and  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  churches  require  of  the  inferior 
clergy  an  oath  of  obedience  to  their  superiors. 

2.  In  recognizing  more  fully  the  right  of  the 
several  churches  to  appoint  their  own  officers. 
In  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  the  people 
have  no  voice  in  electing  any  of  their  officers, 
and  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church,  the 
Bishop,  who  is  in  a  sense  the  pastor  of  all  the 
churches  of  his  diocese,  may  not  be  the  choice 
of  a  single  congregation.  And  in  all  cases  the 
people  are  obliged  to  petition  their  bishop  to 
grant  them  the  pastor  of  their  choice. 

Q.  152.  In  what  important  respect  does  the 
Presbyterian  church  agree  with  those  just 
mentioned,  contrary  to  the  primitive  and  Con- 
gregational systems  ? 


THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH.  137 

A.  In  depriving  the  brotherliood    of   each 
particular  church  of  the  government  thereof, 
and  vesting  all  ecclesiastical    power   in   the 
hands  of  church  officers. 
12* 


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